Ad Hoc
by reathai
Summary: "He's already beaten the twilight though," he stated slowly. "The hard part's over." I grinned at that. "Kid, the hard part doesn't begin until after the action. It's picking up the pieces that's challenging." SEQUEL TO PRECEDENT; MidnaLink, TP/OoT XOVER
1. there's a light that follows you

**(Shortly after the events of Precedent)**

_Goddesses damn it_. I _would_ wake up with an earful of water – in a dark space, with the ghostly outline of some sort of creepy tree nearby, and nothing else remotely familiar or otherwise comforting. Coughing and spluttering, I raised myself up onto my forearms, cracking my neck loudly and painfully in the process. "Dammit." The left side of my body was soaked through, and, after stumbling unsteadily to my feet, patting the clothes only made my gauntlets slick and my hands numb. Beneath my boots I felt the disturbing impression my body had made in the soft silt arranged into a small, oblong mound. Perfect. It was almost as if someone had been expecting me. Except, this place had a ceiling.

Bloody brilliant.

"You _would_ fall off a balcony and somehow end up in the secret Twili swimming pool."

Now that I could see the rest of the _cavern_, I noted the lack of an immediate exit, the seemingly infinite space, the lone scraggly tree, and the stuffy air. To top it off, my one boot felt like a leather bucket, and judging by the strange swirling pressure around my ankles, a current of some kind was probably responsible for the flooding. For all I knew, I was standing in ye olde abandoned bathhouse or something, with goddesses-only-knew what else lurking in the shallow depths – and although the freezing, brackish water only came up to my calves when I left the island, I in no way found this amusing or reassuring or anything other than eerie as hell. There weren't any windows, or any doors, or any signs of life aside from my own uncontrollable shivering. This wasn't a manmade place, most likely… although it struck me as hair-raisingly familiar somehow.

Well. It was entirely possible that I'd died and gotten myself thrown into purgatory or something. I did, after all, take a swan dive into oblivion courtesy of that lieutenant, so it was reasonable to assume I'd burst into smithereens upon impact. Or, I could be somewhere else entirely. Zant could pop out of the floor. Or Ganondorf. Goddesses, that would ruin my day. Well. It would ruin my day that much more. I shook my head decidedly, and, reaching a hand behind me to unbuckle the straps, I emptied the water trapped in my sheath and quiver. _I think you've reached a new level, Link._ Of what, I didn't care to speculate. The place was deathly quiet as well, and when I sloshed around, things crunched under my feet. Crunchy things. Probably discarded bones of unfortunate wayfarers. Not that you could really fare your way into a place like this without colossal effort and a pinch of bad luck or overdue karma.

_I hate karma_.

"Midna?" I called out. My throat was scratchy and my voice sounded awful, like I'd just swallowed a mouthful of gravel. I almost wished that I had, if it meant avoidance of this particular situation. If I stood still too long, it felt like the unseen walls were creeping towards me, inching closer and closer to the ultimate goal of making wood pulp with Dark Link sprinkles. "Midna?" The echo bounced back quickly. Small? Great. I just loved deceptively small, dark, impossibly enclosed spaces that confirmed my worst predictions. I stepped around the tree, even whacked at it with my sword; it quivered like it was real. But this didn't freaking feel real. One second I was admiring the sky, and the next, I was waking up here, in some goddesses-forsaken place, sopping wet and with a goddesses-awful headache – and, as I quickly realised upon an automatic attempt, I couldn't warp out.

Cue the panic.

"HELLO? HELP! MIDNA! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

I wondered vaguely what Link would do if he were here. I couldn't sit down anywhere to think, and dissolving just annoyed me because of the inappropriate effort. The exhaustion didn't really make sense though, even following an apparently nonfatal fall – assuming I wasn't dead. And I felt alive… definitely found a pulse at the wrist, fluttering and frantic but most definitely _there_. And if I really fell all that way, supposedly landing here, shouldn't I be physically injured? Couldn't be purgatory. Couldn't be dead. Couldn't have fallen, unless this place had a trapdoor hidden in the ceiling, and as far as I could tell, it most definitely didn't.

Calling out again, I waited a split second for a response – but nothing answered, aside from what appeared to be mist rising from the surface of the water. Annoyed, I elected to skulk around in the shadows beneath the tree while waiting for something important to happen, since important things always happened unexpectedly in dark, dingy, and apparently wet places such as this. Although, despite anticipating varying degrees of excitement, I knew that even if something did happen, I probably wouldn't be able to defend myself very well; no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't summon much feeling into my numb fingers, and with only the sword at my back and my bow sans arrows, I didn't stand much of a chance. Oh, I had the cold fear swelling in my throat, too. That made me feel so much safer. And hypoxic.

But I didn't have very long to wait: the clatter of metal scraping against metal, and boots trudging through water abruptly reached me, headed in my direction. The person drew nearer; first the sounds, then an outline in the mist, and as my heart leapt into my throat to join the fear, I found myself face-to-face with a certain blonde guy in a disturbingly familiar hat.

"Link?" I stammered. "What the hell are you doing here? Where the hell are we?"

His only reaction was to raise his shield. But when he did, I immediately picked up on the different battle stance. Rather than the Link we all knew and loved, this was some other guy parading around with a certain hat and a sharp sword – and the Triforce of Courage, blazing away like the sun on the back of his left hand, right through the thick leather of his gauntlet, even as he leant into a charge. I felt myself swallow thickly.

"Hey, can't we talk about this?"


	2. all we know is distance

Wisdom made her a coward.

And Wisdom emphasised it. Painfully so.

Most recently, Link had gone through the trouble of infiltrating a rioting city just to rescue her from certain execution, not because it was the smartest move but because it was _right_ – for him. It was brave. It was selfless. On the whole, that defined both of them: they answered only to Hyrule's needs. Hyrule's best interests. But whereas Link often charged into situations that threatened his existence, Zelda retreated. Strategic retreat, she called it sometimes, to take the edge off. Regardless of the name, retreat was retreat, and that divided them; he risked his life and she coveted hers, both in the name of Hyrule. In the end, she was selflessly selfish and Link….

_Nayru help me_.

Zelda ran. Heart thumping wildly in her breast, she scrambled drunkenly along the dark path, desperately trying to pick her way through the creeping underbrush that obscured the narrow, almost nonexistent trail. She was scared, yes; the fear licked at her ribcage, sparking through her veins like liquid lightning, intoxicating terror. The understanding that came with it flashed through her mind with every unsteady step through the thick loam. Once again she had called a retreat – but this surrender was different. This was not blatant self-preservation driving her away from the frantic lieutenant and his hastily organised defence. There had been so little time and she knew he was right in telling her to flee, saw that her presence amongst the villagers would only embitter them towards her and encourage the councilmen's forces. There had been so little time and she at once hated and loved herself for it: she had ushered the children before her, miraculously summoning the ancient guardian spirits of the forest to guide them to safety in the Sacred Grove. But by now, the flickering lights of the fairies and the soft rush of tiny footsteps were gone. Only the burning on the back of her right hand led her onwards.

Behind her, she could hear the steady pounding of the men's boots, hear the leaves and sticks crunching under their weight as they raced after her, closing the distance steadily. Her breath came in ragged bursts but it made sense to run. Several disguised soldiers had followed her after peeling away from the group of Ordonians, much to the villagers' dismay. The first few she'd waylaid with magical traps, and the next she'd struck down with spells cast blindly over her shoulders. These final three would suffer at close quarters, unless she had enough adrenaline left in her to fuel the final sprint into the Sacred Grove, where she would lose them in the labyrinthine trails. She would be safe there; she had already prayed for the forest guardian's protection. If worse came to worst, she could seal herself and the children inside the Temple of Time and pray the villagers lived through the impending raid. She just had to make it there first.

The root caught her completely unawares. Tumbling violently to the ground just before the two stone braziers that marked the entrance to her refuge, she immediately cast a protective spell for cover as she righted herself against the thick trunk of an ancient tree and drew the dagger given her by Dark Link so long ago. The three men waited on the boundaries of the shield, leering like wolves. Panic tore at her and the only thing racing through her head was a repetition of '_Someone please help. I can't do this. Oh Nayru-'_ until the dense silence, punctuated only by laboured breaths, finally communicated the solitude. _You will not die lying down_. She took a deep breath and, hurling herself through the spell, surprised the smallest soldier by driving the point of her blade into his exposed neck. The success didn't last long: even as she moved, the burliest and the leader of the group, swung in low with his broadsword, intent on separating her hips from the rest of her. She dodged the brunt of it with a weak warping spell, but in the chaos reappeared still in the blade's path. It dug hungrily into her side; Zelda staggered. Time stopped, and she closed her eyes wearily, attempting to concentrate and summon… something. Anything.

_Help… please…._

Even in the darkness, she saw the flash of his teeth and the whites of his eyes, and a moment later, the glitter of the broadsword being raised again. She concentrated harder on her magic, hurriedly weaving the strongest protective spell she knew. _Oh Nayru give me strength_-

Something _zing_ed past her, just above her head, sounding suspiciously like an arrow.

"Stay down, Zelda!" Shock tore through her as the dark-haired, red-eyed rescuer sprang from her shadow and blocked the soldier's strike. His blade suddenly lit with a brilliant blue-green as he swung at him, driving him back a few steps, back towards the gorge. "Leave her alone!"

"Demon!" shouted the man. "_Demon_!"

Dark Link snarled back instantly, "I'm not a sword, idiot!" With a deft jab, he drove the glowing blade through the soldier's midriff, sending the man crashing to a knee in agony. The soldier was motionless for a minute, but just as Dark Link made to withdraw his sword, a tiny dagger came zooming out of nowhere and scraped uselessly against his chainmail until finding purchase in his arm. In an instant, he twisted the sword, the man gave a soft cry of pain, and fell to the ground dead, a small ribbon of blood trickling from the side of his mouth. Just beyond him, Zelda finally spied the corpse of the shorter man, an arrow fletched with blazing orange protruding from his right eye socket. Dark Link thrust a hand towards her, thought better of it, and knelt to uncap a small bottle near her wound.

"I heard you," he told her confusedly. "I heard you calling for help. Goddesses, Zelda, what the hell were you thinking?" The fairy mended the skin as if the violent encounter had never happened and she sighed in relief; feeling the lifeblood seep from her body was not particularly enjoyable, and nor was the shock of blood loss that still left her thoughts hazy. Thankfully Dark Link remained silent, rolling the now-empty bottle nervously between his hands, his worried stare fixed on her as she slowly regained her bearings. After a few dazed moments on the ground, however, she smiled brightly and accepted his help in sweeping back to her feet.

"Link-"

He unexpectedly caught her up in a tight embrace, pressing his face into her neck. "Farore, Nayru, and _Din_, Zelda, but I thought I'd never see you again! Just what the _hell_ is going on?"

"Link." She stepped away from him and held his face between her hands disbelievingly. He was here, though. He was here, and she could feel him between her palms, the skin clammy and pale and shining in the darkness, the blinking crimson eyes just as bright as ever, and so wonderfully familiar. So terribly confused. Her suspicions had been beautifully confirmed, but at what cost? "Your arm is bleeding."

"That's generally what happens when you get stabbed," he muttered under his breath and she smiled despite herself. "It's shallow. Don't worry-" He shuddered and yawned, leaning in to scrutinise her and spectacularly violate her personal space. Zelda didn't budge; predictably, he took it as an invitation. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I showed up when I did. But how the hell did I hear you, huh? One minute I'm with the kid, and the next I'm falling out of that stupid doorway that's _supposed_ to lead to the Temple of Time, and not some alternate reality. Unless I've been dreaming," he added distractedly. "Maybe I've been dreaming. Kokiri... hmph." He shook his head.

"It was no dream." That earned her a suspicious look, and as much as she wanted to tell him, she couldn't reveal what she knew. Not yet, because he wouldn't believe her, even though she'd witnessed the most damning evidence only moments ago. Her _life_ was evidence now. "I brought the village children here with the aid of the forest spirits. Link, I'm sorry but we must speak later – Ordon is being attacked-"

"_What_?" The sword that he'd thrust into the grass suddenly lit again, effortlessly beating away the encroaching shadows with its intensity as his hand wrapped around the hilt. He grabbed her roughly by the forearm and glanced around, obviously trying to determine their location. "_Why_? Where's Link?"

"Castletown, but-"

Dark Link blinked. "Castletown? But Ordon's- But you're- Oh bloody hell." Shaking his head, he shut his eyes and she felt energy condensing around them- but it dispersed not even a second later, and he stumbled as if hit from behind. _He's weak from travelling between gates_. "Okay," he muttered, "okay so I can't warp. Great. Brilliant." Taking her by the shoulders now, he spun her around to look her in the eye searchingly. "They're here for you, aren't they? The attackers- The soldiers are here for you, like the ones I just killed."

"Yes," she managed breathlessly. "Yes, they are, but the village- Lieutenant Garmin sent me to safety but Link, for Nayru's sake let-"

"He's right. You should go to the Temple of Time."

Zelda seized a fistful of his tunic and refused to let go, even using her own magic to keep him in place when he attempted to dissolve. "_I will not_," she challenged him, "leave you."

"What, like you did in the Mirror Chamber?"

That stopped her in her tracks. _That isn't fair_. She wanted to scream it at him with every fibre of her being, except that she saw the futility. It hadn't been her doing, but her foreknowledge of Midna's final gesture anything but absolved her. She possessed the grace to look cowed. "I regret that it happened as it did."

"Zelda, listen-" Ah, the impatience. He had that spark in his eyes too, the one that accompanied his favourite scowl. It just about burst her heart seeing it on him now, right in front of her, _here_, impossibly and incredibly _here_. Clutching the fabric, she shook her head decisively and after a tense moment, he actually relented – but only after removing her hand with feigned disgust and snapping, "Fine, but you don't leave my sight. That way you can't get out of telling me just what in Farore's name is going on. You got that, Princess?"

In response she held up her dagger again. "Faron is back this way."

Mist swirled to their right, creeping around their feet as they moved and completely obscuring the way they'd come. Off to the left, a massive tree shrouded the entire area in deep shadows; it was anchored securely to the steep, debris-strewn incline, its thick roots twined inextricably through the rich, rocky soil and in some places arching up over the path to form short tunnels. Zelda didn't remember any of it. Although she knew that the magic of the forest purposely manipulated the paths to trap intruders, it nevertheless elicited an involuntary shiver, prompting Dark Link to brusquely pull her against him, sword extended to light her way. She did not protest. The forest guardian had granted her protection but the unfamiliar, seemingly changeable surroundings raised the hair on her nape. They travelled this way for some time through the cool mist and writhing shadows until the trail began banking sharply around hairpin turns. Up ahead, one part was completely washed out by a landslide, and it was here that she finally caught a glimpse of familiar territory: the Forest Temple. Beside her Dark Link let out a long sigh.

"Oh, goddesses, I'm actually home."

"Home, yes."

He glanced at her with brows drawn in a flat, unimpressed line. "Don't sound so disappointed. _You_ called _me_."

"I am glad you are here," she smiled back at him and squeezed his arm reassuringly. "Truly, Link."

"Fool me once," he began suggestively. Then he looked away and released her to adjust the grip he had on his sword. It surprised her mildly, but he looked incredibly uncomfortable in the dim starlight filtering through the branches high above. "I don't know how, but I'm here on your account, Zel. Remember that this time, will you?"

Zel. She wanted to giggle hysterically at the pet name and the inappropriate timing. Goddesses, the situation had her giddy enough: on the one hand, she knew it could very well be suicide that she was undertaking in following her friend into battle; on the other, her resolve might convince the villagers of her plight. She was still dressed in her gown, however tattered and stained from the abuse of the castle dungeons, and the crown jewels still rested on her head amidst the mussed braids – but that was nothing to a people abandoned decades ago and left under a tyrant's reign. Wisdom told her that she needed to prove herself. Dark Link was giving her the chance, and the nudge she needed to seize it. The fear, though, shook her to the core.

"Link, when this is over-" Taking his callused hand in hers, she pressed the cold palm to her chest, right over her heart. "I am sorry… and I hope you will forgive me."

An explosion interrupted his confusion. He jolted into action by snatching his hand back, dragging her along, as he sprinted down the trail that would take them to the bridge into Ordon. The treetops blazed away in the night, painting the forest with a terrible golden light and dousing the canopies with billowing charcoal smoke. Dark Link was gliding now, half-shadow, pulling her along unforgivably. But the only words that issued from him were just barely recognisable: "Please no. Not again. Please, goddesses, _not again_."


	3. no shadows on your doubts

_It's a raid_.

For a terrifying moment, I was only able to stare dumbfounded at the bridge thronged with soldiers, and the trees engulfed in flames just beyond. People were screaming, shouting to one another in slow-motion, the pass choked with men and the clamour of their weapons; smoke clung to the canyon and nearly brought me to tears when I reappeared in the thick of it, the paralysing fear beating a tattoo in my throat. If I stared hard enough into the haze, I could almost make out Colin's panicked face… couldn't I? Someone knocked into me and everything snapped back into motion. Gasping, I turned just in time to see-

"Ren!" I howled, launching myself in his direction.

He dropped his sword in shock, but the Imperial Guardsman continued his downward slice unfazed. In one deft movement, I parried the blow, simultaneously filling the vicinity with an intense blue-green light. The energy dancing off the blade only surprised me for a second, because just after I shoved the smaller body behind me, Zelda enveloped those nearby in a magical barrier to deflect the enemy's hail of arrows. Standing just beyond the radius, I turned transient and let the arrows sail right through me, much to the archers' terror. I knew from experience that Ordonians could fend off a raid, and I could also recognise cover fire when I saw it: the soldiers were retreating. And judging by the number of groaning bodies sprawled about the place, the Imperials were withdrawing with good reason.

We fell back into telepathy, with that golden light of hers once again peacefully settled at the edges of my mind: '_The others are safe with me._'

_Keep it that way._

I felt pain, conflict. '_Will you let them go?_'

_Do you want me to?_

She was silent. Without consulting anyone else, I flitted across the bridge and blocked the retreat to the Field, rearing up from the shadows before the rest of the company could flee. The soldiers reacted as expected: startled by the red-eyed shadow monster in their path, the infantry refocused. Or at least, a handful of them did; the rest rushed back towards the bridge, trampling some of their own men, completely opposite of what I'd anticipated. The villagers, too, reacted adversely by breaking ranks and heading for their homes, mistaking the desperate rush for a directed attack. Only a scarecrow of a man in a colonel's coat and a number of others dressed in ratty guard uniforms held the narrow pass now, cutting mercilessly into the oncoming-

Someone bombed the bridge.

I staggered back from the force of the explosion, hands up to shield my face from the debris and the heat as countless men and broken bits of wood plunged into the rapids well below. Stunned, I scrambled upright to gawk at the conspicuously empty space. Sure, there had been talk about destroying the main route into the village to deter any more raids, but Farore, Nayru, and Din, there was no going back now. The treacherous gorge and the waterfall were now actively employed as natural defences; unless the soldiers found the trails that linked directly to Ordona Province, as the Bulbins had done, their only other option was an uphill assault via Lake Floria. Not that another assault was particularly expected any time soon. I doubted very much that many – if any – would survive the fall, and it would take time to organise a new force and find a proper forest guide before another attempt could be made. But I could tell that my former neighbours were confident they had won: the villagers were beginning triage and preparing casualties for transport. They won, decisively, yes… but this wasn't like any of the other raids, with the exception of Desn's massacre, and it made me sick.

_Zelda?_

'_We are safe but Lieutenant Garmin has been injured._'

With a sigh of relief at her first words, I floated across what used to be a bridge and landed back on solid ground, suddenly feeling the weight of everything pressing down on my shoulders. I hadn't felt this drained since the water temple when I first encountered the kid, so this probably wasn't a good sign. I hated time-travelling. Or dimension-travelling. Whatever it was, it always happened accidentally to me and I hated it. At least the kid had that stupid flute thing and his sword to control his trips; he was always consciously aware of his little escapades. Lowly, unwilling tagalongs like myself could only wait with bated breath and irritation for the next abrupt shift and goddesses, but it wore me out like nothing else. _Thank Nayru there's a healing spring here_.

Slumped against the princess was the scarecrow man I'd noticed earlier. At his full height, he would've towered over me by at least two heads. Right now though, he looked awkward and almost inhuman with the way he was half-sprawled on the ground, all gangly limbs and blood-spatter like some macabre puppet. When I drew closer, Zelda gestured for me to help her stand by sharing some of his weight, so I ducked under one of his arms and dragged it over my shoulder. The differences in our heights made it spectacularly difficult to manoeuvre to the point where it must have looked utterly ridiculous, comical even, except for the blood. And the semi-consciousness. And the arrows thudding into my shoulder. Garmin and I tumbled over.

"Stop! Stop it! What are you-"

"Princess," someone was saying angrily. I tried propping myself up on my forearms for a better view but Zelda's panicked '_Don't move!_' discouraged any further action on my part. Somewhere above me and closer to Ordon, the angry someone took a few steps closer in heavy boots that crunched loudly in the dirt. "Princess, that- that creature is with those men from the castle. You _saw_ how it drove the attack- How can you _defend_ it?"

I heard more loud crunching and despite her warning, I managed to stagger upright and tug my sword from its sheath, firmly blocking the man's path. I recognised him as Cairn the miller and felt the bile rise in my throat, but Zelda broke the trance by pushing past and standing in front of _me_, arms spread in livid defiance.

"_He_ is defending _me_. You will kindly lower your bow, sir. My friend poses no threat to this village."

Cairn kept his bow trained on my face. "Your _friend_ spurred the attack," he accused, and ever so subtly, the target shifted to Zelda herself. My sword lit weakly again. "Your _friend_ led this raid-"

"My friend-"

"Your _friend_ is no friend of ours!"

The bow sang, but I had already moved, intent on passing through the princess to deflect the arrow. It was entirely unnecessary. Frozen behind her, I watched her raised hand stop the arrow in mid-air and suddenly, the tiny space – acrid with smoke from the burning trees and drenched with the coppery tang of spilt blood, shadowed by the high walls of the narrow canyon and crowded with almost the entire adult population of Ordon as well as the loyal guardsmen – exploded with a brilliant, blinding gold as if it were high noon. There, illuminating the faces of everyone present, shone the Triforce of Wisdom on the back of her hand. Graceful yet authoritative, she displayed the sacred symbol for all to see.

"I tell the truth," she said softly.

The villagers gaped openly, but even as they stared, the little triangle quietly faded away. It was only after she'd turned to me and assessed the damage that the assembly regained life. Amidst whispered, "She really is Princess Zelda," and "The Princess of Destiny has returned to us!" she gently resumed her supporting position beneath the unconscious lieutenant's arm.

"Let me help you," I muttered, joining her. She looked at me worriedly but before she could even form the thought, I gritted my teeth. Unfortunately, my lack of shadow magic made it impossible to extract the arrows as twilight. Not that it would stop me. "I can do it. Gotta make it back to Ordon anyway." Under my breath, I added, "Welcome home, Link."

x

By the time I woke again, Zelda had changed out of her blood-stained dress and dispensed with the jewellery. Instead, she wore what looked like one of Link's tunics, a dark rust-red, belted tightly at the waist over an old pair of beige riding pants, with her long brown hair braided into a thick ponytail devoid of her coronet. She had also somehow healed the little nick I'd received from her assailants on the trail _and_ the arrow wounds. Completely. Physically I felt wonderful; magically, I was still a little lacking, and it was that look of disappointment that caught her eye when she looked up from the letter she had been working on since early this morning.

"Are you still in pain?"

I shook my head, shoving aside the musty cloak that had covered me and scooting myself off of what had to be Link's bed. We were both alive and functioning and she owed me a story. As I stared at her expectantly, I saw that she understood where I was going and began slowly, "That wasn't the first time that I've heard 'Princess of Destiny.'"

She spoke so quietly I almost didn't catch her pained words: "Midna, your gamble-" Zelda's gaze fell to the floor as she abandoned the letter, then thought better of it and finished it silently. For several long minutes, the only sound in the room was the scratching of her quill across the page, but I waited patiently because I knew jumping on that provocative mumble would only complicate the explanatory process. Well, 'complicate' – to be honest, I wasn't really sure things could get worse. It was a little hard to be positive when just hours ago-

_"I admit, it was kind of a waste of time," I drawled at him, lazily picking bits of cobweb off my hat. "For the record, I also blame Sheik."_

_He glared at me with that flat-mouthed, angry-eyed face of his that made him look about six. Way to showcase his inner child there. "That isn't the point, D," he snapped right back. "We didn't need to have anything to do with that stupid well. It was creepy and stupid and now I'll have to replenish my magic-" Link kept ticking off things on his little fingers, but I ceased paying attention after he mentioned something about deku sticks. He always went through the ritual of restocking when something really shook him up – case in point, the well._

_"Kid, just take it easy."_

_But Link just shook his head, annoyed, and reached for the sword jammed deep into the pedestal. That damn fairy reappeared, hovering on the far side of his head, her blue glow tinged green by her wariness towards me, since I liked to threaten her any time I got my hands on an empty bottle. Without a word, she flew around the hilt as his hands grasped the handle and began to-_

Fear_. Blinding and icy cold, it startled me from my hiding place in his shadow just as metal on stone began to ring through the chamber. With a strangled yelp, I raised a hand to arrest the sword's motion out of the pedestal much to the kid's fury._

_"D let go right-!"_

_"STOP!" I shouted back, and let the echo fade into silence. He had to have heard it- It had been so loud, so distinct- "Didn't you hear that? Someone was begging for help-"_

_The kid blinked from where he had stepped up onto the pedestal, his hands still curved around the stationary blade, and shared a quizzical glance with his fairy. "D… we're the only ones in here."_

_It was true; I knew that, technically. The temple was always empty whenever we ventured in and right now, save for the two of us standing frozen beside each other, a tomb might have been livelier than this place. I knew we were alone… but where the _hell_ had that scared cry come from, if not from in here somewhere? I had half a mind to go search the place when something irresistibly tugged at _me, _yanking my centre of mass along completely without my consent. Lurching backward in surprise, I instinctively thrust my hands upwards – with an almighty clamour, the sword came free of the pedestal, flying right through Link's hands as he jumped back in shock. Just as the force sent the kid tumbling into the back wall of the chamber, I stumbled backwards towards the entrance, one hand still raised slightly, keeping the sword in place over our heads until I could regain some sense of balance. My boots slipped out from under me – and Link shouted something that I couldn't catch quite-_

_I landed on my back in long, fragrant grass, feeling incredibly sick and terrified, the stone archway I remembered as leading to the spider-infested Temple of Time standing peacefully in front of me. The confusion was strangling me, and the high-pitched screaming issuing from somewhere nearby did nothing to alleviate the malaise. I scrambled upright with some difficulty, found the Master Sword stuck within arm's reach in the ground point-first, and hardly paused to consider the sequence of events before something actually blinded me – _words_._

_'Someone please help…'_

_Goddesses-damn it, but I'd have known that glow anywhere. I also recognised the same disconcerting pulsing _something_ that had drawn me towards the Master Sword in the pedestal chamber. Somehow, the glow and the something were connected, and unlike the simple telepathy we'd shared during our previous adventure, this ran deeper. _This_ ran so much deeper and I couldn't even put a name to it; this was just there, and so strong and binding and undeniably _there_, connecting us indescribably. Powerfully. I felt her fear jolt through me once more in the split second it took for me to warp: Zelda was in trouble, and goddesses help the people responsible._

…Enter Dark Link, to the dramatic scene on the Sacred Grove trail.

It was puzzling, to say the least. Midna and I had talked about Sheikah, and how they could travel through time with magical doors or something – we'd immersed ourselves in research about them because she was convinced that they could help her reopen a new portal to Hyrule, one that was safer than the Mirror. I was positive I remembered someone saying something about doors right before the darkness that ended with waking in the kid's water temple. One of the Sheikah must have… let me pass into the kid's time instead of smashing to pretty little bits on the rocks below the palace. I was sure of it. How considerate. That conclusion had led me to bargain with the kid, and if I was right – if Midna was right – I could return to the Twilight Realm with good tidings. Sheikah were the new currency then. …Hence Zelda's strange comment about gambling. She cleared her throat.

"Link, the Princess of Destiny lived over a century ago, and with the help of a young boy, exposed Ganondorf's treachery." I couldn't have cleared my throat if I'd tried. It felt like someone was choking me again, or shoving a towel down my oesophagus. "If I can associate myself with her… I will be able to reclaim the throne as my father's prodigal granddaughter."

My jaw dropped a little. So, it wasn't an alternate reality after all. Just, you know, the past. A _hundred years_ in the past. That was some door. Then there was that little white lie of hers- "You're pretending to be… your own _daughter_? Don't tell me Link's pretending to be my brother or something. I'm terrible at the brother thing."

"I am not sure what lie he is using," she admitted with a small smile. "Although I highly doubt he would actively seek you as a relative."

"Look at that, the princess has got a sense of humour." I wanted to grin at her and joke with her, really. But it slipped off my face and the next thing I knew, I was standing right in front of her at the rough-hewn table, leaning against the top and borderline antagonistic: "Did you know Midna was going to break the Mirror?"

Zelda blinked and shook her head without hesitation, letting me feel the consternation roiling inside her as only marginally reassuring proof. "No. I suspected, but I did not believe she would take such a risk."

"What risk? You keep talking about risk-" I narrowed my eyes in suspicion when all I got for my trouble was the neatly sealed letter, which I waved in her face, annoyed. "Don't tell me the secret's in here, because you'll have wasted an envelope-"

"It has been sealed with a spell until the time is right."

I almost groaned out load. Almost. I had just enough restraint, just enough of a sense of propriety, to keep it to myself. And by propriety, I meant curiosity, because the damn thing glowed in my hand – flashed, just for an instant, that mellow gold of her light before fading again. Okay, so it was magical. Big deal. The murderous look that had to be on my face, that I couldn't help after the anticlimactic light show. I'd had enough of the cloak-and-dagger nonsense that never failed to surprise me unpleasantly at the most inopportune moments. Sometimes I remembered exactly how tired I was, like now, and it overwhelmed me. All this stupid time-travelling would be the death of me. I was so bloody _tired_. But according to Zelda, I'd get to discover the meaning of life before I died, as comforting as that was. Joy. Maybe I'd have time to write a book about it. Just as I opened my mouth to complain about the injustice of the world, she grasped my hand tightly, the Triforce shining placidly.

Before she could say anything, I demanded, "What happened to you?"

"Will you let me show you?"

I waited a heartbeat or two for her to begin, but she seemed to be waiting for _permission_. Goddesses, but it was a little late for that, or this whole fiasco might have been avoided. Another second of expectant silence, and then I snorted, "Nah, I enjoy sitting in the dark."

That got a tiny grin out of her. "Fit your memories with mine." And before I had a chance to even consider what that meant, it felt like I'd stepped through a curtain of water and into a dream.


	4. postcards from far away

_She couldn't see anything, but something was out there and it was looking at her. Placing a hand on the bars, she shut her eyes and tried to reach out with her mind, quietly inquiring – and gasped._

_"Link?" she asked breathlessly. "Link, is that you?" Blue eyes flashed out of the gloom at waist-level, she staggered to her feet, and the next thing she knew, a very human hand brushed hers. "Link, you-you came." His hair rustled as he nodded and she smiled, the tears pricking her eyes, although she knew better than to consider his appearance an act of forgiveness. "Is Lieutenant Garmin with you?"_

_He refused to speak again; instead, she received flashes of the loyal guard's pale face as the man shut the door behind Link. They were headed for the tunnel that led into the abandoned bar, then. Garmin had done his duty. And Link fully intended to fulfil his. The lock clicked, and he ushered her out of the cell – and dashed ahead to block her path, scowling at her with blazing eyes after transforming back into a wolf. She'd set off down the corridor in the correct direction and almost refused his suggestion, but when he growled at her threateningly, she reluctantly pulled herself onto his back and without protest let him carry her. The smooth, loping stride barely jarred her even though she could feel the strain her weight placed on him in the tensed muscles; she was considerably larger than Midna's impish form, after all. However, she couldn't deny that they moved faster this way, and adrenaline aside, their escape from the castle seemed to take hardly any time. As they approached the front of the abandoned bar, she released her gentle hold around his neck and slid from his back, but kept a hand on his shoulder to steady herself… until she felt the warm, sticky liquid on her palm and caught a whiff of the coppery tang._

_Without asking his permission, she replaced her hand and focused, willing the soft golden light to mend the flesh and replenish lost blood. Link stared back at her as a man, irritation written all over his tanned face, and impassively removed her hand before she finished her healing spell. _

_"At least-"_

_Ignoring her, he knocked against the boarded-up door three times, waited a beat, and knocked a fourth, prompting the lieutenant to unlock it. He peered inside cautiously, caught sight of her, and broke into a relieved grin._

_"Your Highness!" he exclaimed in a strained whisper. "You're safe!"_

_"Yes," answered Zelda quietly, "but the townspeople are not. We must end this." Garmin and Link shared a look. Zelda sighed with frustration. "This has to stop," she implored them. "Please, we must-"_

_Garmin stepped towards her and dipped down onto one knee, head bowed. "Your Highness, with all due respect, we must get you to safety."_

_"I cannot leave Castletown like this," she gasped. Weak from her treatment in the dungeons and well aware of her waning influence, she grabbed the lieutenant by the shoulders desperately. "Please- My presence-"_

_Opening his mouth, Garmin meant to say something conciliatory but Link stopped him. He signed quickly, efficiently to the lieutenant: _Watch over her. I will see to the town_. The blond man looked unbelievably tired. Zelda's breath caught in her throat; letting her gaze bore into him, she moved forward to stand resolutely before him._

'You have done enough_,' she told him as commandingly as she could. _'This is my battle._'_

_For a second, he regarded her seriously… and then he snorted derisively, waving at her overall state and she actually lowered her head in acceptance. He was right, in a way: the dungeons wore her down, and healing his wound even partially left her panting quietly in the gloomy alley. Her magic had been occupied in maintaining her own health and she'd fought the restorative sleep as hard as she could until relief came. And it had, just as that little whisper of Wisdom had predicted. Now that she could see the end within sight, that control was slipping rapidly out of her grasp._

_Loyal Lieutenant Garmin tried leading her up to the smoky cobblestone street, his rapier drawn and eyes wary. Link had moved on ahead. "Your Highness, please," he implored urgently. "I don't know him but I trust that man with my life. We must go."_

x

_All the way to the main square, Link stayed within sight no matter how slowly she moved, and she was grateful for his consideration because it made her worry less. She owed him so much, she would never be able to pay him back and she knew it. But she knew her limits too, and what her freedom meant. With only the crown jewels and her 'mother's' dress as proof, she'd managed to rouse just a small force of loyal guards and townsfolk before the councilmen had attacked – and in a heartbreaking mirror of her previous surrender, she'd acquiesced to their request to protect her hosts. The decision to take the carriage they'd sent would haunt her for years to come because no sooner had she stepped foot in the castle courtyard, turned her face to the rebuilding efforts that obscured the stone face with wooden scaffolding, shut her eyes in a moment of peace – had one of the guards abruptly thrust the tip of his halberd between her shoulder blades. Lieutenant Garmin had found her after that, and it was unfortunately through him that the riots had found their fuel. Link was doing her a tremendous favour; both men were. _

_She pulled Garmin's martyred cloak tightly round her shoulders to hide her identity from any opposing guards and kept her head down, but that didn't prevent the terrible sounds of people screaming themselves hoarse from affecting her. Castletown was in an uproar. And however awfully, she understood the gravity of their support, especially by the time they reached the main square. The area was packed. And gathered opposite the entrance to the castle, immediately before the fountain, she recognised the small, raggedy group that she'd convinced of her claim just before-_

_Link exploded into the fray, his sword gleaming in the half-light of twilight and his eyes, in the flames of the torches, burnt fiercely with enough righteous fury to strike terror into the hearts of those nearby. She and Garmin would not join him; their paths parted here._

_As he barrelled through the crowd, the lieutenant startled her by expressing the exact sentiment emanating from Link: "FOR HYRULE!" he bellowed, but his added, "FOR THE THRONE!" made her smile faintly. He kept her firmly behind him while he raised his rapier high, shaking it vigorously to make way as they crossed the main square, since the other streets had been blocked by fire. If they could make it just a little bit farther, they would make the gate. Goddesses, but they would make the gate and, although she had never felt so drained in her life and the helplessness disgusted her, the Wisdom guiding her understood that this weakness was only temporary. She would reorganise. She would resurrect her fallen kingdom. She would settle her debts with-_

_A primal howl brought all motion to a halt and, startled, her fingers dug mercilessly into Garmin's arm. Even without the tenuous connection between their Triforce pieces, Zelda recognised the cry. "We must go back," she insisted. With a little difficulty, she drew Dark Link's dagger from her belt, the only weapon that Garmin had been able to return to her after the other guards disarmed her. She wasn't certain what she was going to do with the dagger, but feeling the weight, the warm metal in her palm, provided an odd sense of comfort; somewhere behind them, a battle was brewing and Link was prepared to fight anyone and everyone single-handedly. _

_"Forgive me, Your Highness." _

_Without another word of warning, the lieutenant slipped the blade from her hand, grabbed her gently about the waist, and slung her over his bony shoulder, all the while murmuring countless apologies for his rude conduct. From her new vantage point, Zelda was too stunned to protest and too exhausted to struggle._

_Just before the fountain, her gaze found Link. On either half of the square, two distinct sides had emerged, though their components seemed identical: each included a mix of Imperial Guards, nobles, peasants, and tradesmen. But while the group closest to the castle looked towards a man in a crimson cloak, those opposite gathered behind Link. And when the young blond raised his sword in a challenge, the crowd around him rippled with whispers and awe._

_The leader of the Imperials stood before the fountain, scrutinising him. Zelda watched as Link took a step in his direction and swung his sword in a smooth arc before him, a clear warning, but the leader, a large blond man of middling years with a shining silver breastplate, merely laughed. Tossing back his head, he laughed deeply, barrel of a chest trembling with the vibrations – and stopped abruptly to point a thick finger at the assembled civilians. Zelda couldn't hear what he said, but she saw Link take a threatening step forward._

_Within another moment, the entire square bore witness as Link's blade cleanly severed the leader's head from his neck, watched as his boots effortlessly knocked the body onto its back in the water, gaped as he ended his leap by landing on the highest tier of the broken fountain and tossing the head right into the thick of the men defending the castle. From the forefront of the common crowd, someone declared, "FOR THE PEOPLE!"_

_The square froze for a heartbeat – and then everything crashed back into motion and sound and light, and Link had vanished. Unable to fight it any longer, Zelda shut her eyes._

D

_"So. I take it this isn't a drill."_

_"The hell it's a drill," she snapped back before resting her chin on her knees. We were alone in the throne room, opposite one another and equally exhausted after spending the previous night digging through dusty tomes in the never-ending depths of the library. Now, to top it all off, Midna had summoned me for some nefarious announcement regarding her xenophobic court. "I wish it was. But it's not. I've had reports from the outlying villages of dimmed light, and I know that you've seen instances of it before, but nothing like this. Nothing on this scale."_

_Leaning back onto my palms, I watched her as the gears turned ruthlessly within her head, behind those angry red eyes. The sky had started burning just after our return from Hyrule and predictably, the Twili were more than a little concerned. "I guess it's spread? I don't really know what to say here. What does the council think?"_

_"That the gods are angry. You know how touchy everyone's been since you… since we showed up here, weeks ago." She saw me tense at the indirect jab and shook her head disarmingly. "I understand how they feel. I knew the government would be on rocky ground as soon as Zant exiled me, but this changes everything," she insisted earnestly. "Everyone outside, they're convinced that this is your doing."_

_Blinking, I shook my head in confusion. "My doing? For your information, us Light-Dwellers aren't closet magicians or anything. I can't just make the sky burn by staring hard enough at it. Besides, by now, I'm more Twili than Hylian."_

_"I realise this. They don't."_

_"Well, that's just bloody brilliant then, isn't it?" I glanced at her briefly, but she hadn't moved from her spot against the throne, her hands still draped around her knees and her favourite black cloak drawn tightly around her bare shoulders. "Should I expect an angry mob in my room sometime later tonight? I like surprises to a point. There is a line, and it's definitely been crossed if someone shows up with a sharpened stake intended for insertion into my severed neck."_

_Midna levelled a pointed glare at me. "No one is going to put your head on a stake, but I… think it's time that you-"_

_"You want me to find the Sheikah."_

_She didn't react._

_I stepped closer, until I was right in her face, and repeated myself._

_After a long minute, she finally inclined her head. "Most people seem to think that you've corrupted the twilight itself. I don't know if I can bail you out, under the current circumstances. The council does wield considerable power around here, and you know that. And it's not like you've even bothered to make friends with any of them, either-"_

_But that wasn't what I wanted to hear, not by a long shot. "Yes." I moved again, this time to the far side of the room to stare at a fancy tapestry. "Yes, I know. Sorry for not being a manipulative bastard. But Din. Midna, you're asking me to disappear."_

_"No," she insisted, "that isn't at all what I'm asking." Within a heartbeat she'd joined me in examining the wall hanging. For a minute or two we breathed together quietly, as if nothing were wrong – as if the sky weren't burning, or a mob possibly forming, or horribly inclusive trouble brewing on the clouded horizon. A collectively deep breath echoed in the space between us. From outside, I could hear distant scurrying and angry arguing. I took a shaky breath._

_"Then what are you asking?"_

_She turned, scrutinising me for an intense moment. Time seemed to stop. But then she looked away and I breathed again and someone shouted something in Twili while banging on the door. My jaw had dropped slightly in offence. _

_"You're exiling me."_

_Midna looked affronted at the word. "I am not exiling-"_

_"You're sending me away! That's the definition of exile!"_

_"No, it's not!" She grasped my shoulders and clasped them tightly, importantly. "I am not exiling you, so stop that nonsense!"_

_Glowering, I turned my face away from hers and to the door. "I think you should talk to your council. Advise them. Or do whatever you're supposed to do for your job. I can see myself out."_

_"Link!" She rolled her eyes in exasperation, but I just wriggled out of her grasp and unlocked the door, grinned patronisingly at the gathered big-wigs in the hallway, then turned and saluted Midna before warping back outside. _

_If she wanted to act like the government head she was supposed to be, I could deal with that. I was her guest, after all, and it was only through her that I hadn't been mauled yet by a significant portion of the population. Only people who'd seen worse (i.e., gimpy Captain Glomin) even bothered to make contact. I had some interesting stories – disregarding the language barrier – but when most people were afraid to come near you, for fear of being cursed by the gods or simply ostracised by the whole of the community, they lost their appeal. In short, the Twilight Realm sucked for anyone who enjoyed socialising and being part of a group. The place reeked of groupthink. And incense. They were more superstitious than that crazy fortune teller in Castletown, and even less open to outsiders than the Zoras. _

_Just as I'd expected, I found Glomin on the main balcony, examining the sky through his pocket telescope. He wasn't, however, dressed in his usual regalia. Instead of his medalled three-point, he had on a plain woollen cap and a heavy grey cloak. Most Twili only wore recognisable garments during ceremonies or to symbolize rank; if anything, Glomin's current dress indicated a change of plans that would have to exclude any symbols of military rank and connection with the government. This could get really interesting really fast._

_He offered a single curious glance as I sidled up next to him, to which I simply supplied, "Midna," and he nodded in understanding. His lieutenant was standing nearby, just off to the side, in full uniform and bearing the meanest look I'd ever seen, including Ganondork's ugly mug. I shrugged at him in tentative greeting but he just snorted and took off for an unnecessary patrol of the bridge. After the table dancing, I reckoned I deserved that. His completeness of dress stood out in my mind. _

_Before I could ask about it, Glomin smirked at me and garbled, "Wif trouble nother time?"_

_"Yeah," I grinned back with a theatrical bow. "Professional troublemaker at your service."_

_The captain just shook his head with apparent amusement. He pointed at a particular section of the sky that appeared to be burning more intensely than any other part, which might have been near that explosion from earlier. "Look… Mmm…" He screwed up his face in concentration, but essentially resorted somewhat apologetically to Twili. Shrugging, I just nodded vaguely at the words. He clapped me on the back a little while later to mutter something about Midna before disappearing._

_Great. Now I was literally and figuratively alone in this place._

_Or, would be, if the lieutenant weren't watching me like a hawk from the other side of the skyway. I ignored him for a good minute or two, but just as I really got into sulking mode, a hand clawed at my shoulder and I flinched._

_"No," hissed the lieutenant. He uttered something threatening in Twili, and in my panic, I drew my sword._

_"Where's Glomin?" I demanded. Loud shouts had begun to issue from an open window on the next floor, which I knew to open into the main throne room. Despite all the jumbled voices, I could clearly pick out Midna's high-pitched shrieking, even as it twisted around foreign syllables and accents. I took a step back from the approaching Twili and angled a shoulder away in a cautious warning that I had no qualms in fighting him. I didn't want to, because I knew it'd ruin my already-flagging reputation, but if it came down to it, I'd kick his ass three times. And if Midna's life depended upon it – well then, the lieutenant didn't have a chance. "What's happening?"_

_He just bared his teeth in a menacing snarl. For a split second, I thought that was the extent of the encounter: the captain had wandered off to check on Midna, and the lieutenant had been left here on sentry duty. It made sense – until he lunged at me, hands resembling claws, black energy crackling over his fingertips. We both went down screaming, rolling closer and closer to the edge of the balcony, each of us grunting and spitting and growling. Part of my gauntlet was stuck on the goddesses-damned buckles on the front of his uniform; every time I straightened enough to pin him with that arm, I got to sock him a couple to the face, but he never failed to return the favour with a little added magic. _

What the hell have I ever done to you? _a voice screamed at him. _What the hell is going on?****_Through the clatter, I was able to pick out the shattering of something, followed closely by furious screeching from multiple parties. Whatever was going down in the throne room, I knew without a doubt that I was supposed to be there, sword drawn and battle-ready, firmly planted in front of Midna. If something happened to her… goddesses, Link would never forgive me. _I_ would never forgive me._

_Without warning, I felt him grasp a fistful of my tunic, dragging me onto my knees, my arm still attached to his chest and my sword somehow back in its sheath. The lieutenant's eyes were bugging out of his head, flame-red and eerily black along the edges, as if the pupils had migrated. Spittle-flecked and accent-curved, his words resembled, "Light _de_mon!"_

_I promptly brought up a knee and caught him in the chest. In the split second that he let go, I shimmied out of his grasp and tore the buckles on his uniform, freeing myself and accidentally tumbling even closer to the edge of the narrow skyway, and the stifling fog that blanketed the bottomless valley. Breathing heavily, I managed to prop myself up onto my knees with a shaking hand. I was fairly certain the Twili Guard had sworn an oath to protect the government, not attack guests… unless- Something bright and hot exploded above us. I looked up in alarm, but everything had suddenly taken on a heavy blur, and… was I falling?_

x

_His only reaction was to raise his shield. But when he did, I immediately picked up on the different battle stance. Rather than the Link we all knew and loved, this was some other guy parading around with a certain hat and a sharp sword – and the Triforce of Courage, blazing away like the sun on the back of his left hand, right through the thick leather of his gauntlet, even as he leant into a charge. I felt myself swallow thickly._

_"Hey, can't we talk about this?"_

_I took the clash of steel as a solid, "No."_

_Gritting my teeth, I shoved against our locked blades until he gave, stepping back with mild surprise. In an instant it was gone; the gangly blond charged again, sword flying with frenzied strokes, but unlike the Link I knew, there was only raw strength behind his attack and no technique. That made it both difficult and simple to parry: this guy was essentially swinging the Master Sword at random like a little kid with a long stick. He had practically no clue how to use it, aside from knowing to stick opponents with the pointy end. It was almost exactly the same way _I_ fought, except that he was considerably taller and stronger. Annoyed, I jumped onto the flat of his blade and poked his nose._

_"If you don't stop flailing around, you're gonna put your eye out," I drawled._

_The kid shrieked and flipped the sword to dislodge my boots, but it didn't last long. A glowing ball zipped out from underneath his hat, circled my head once, then hovered by his shoulder. And then it talked, with a freakishly high-pitched female voice. "He… might be a demon, Link."_

_"I'm not a demon," I snapped at the pair. "Demons live in swords, and I-"_

_"He's not to be trusted, Link," bit back the blinking light dismissively. "Kill him already."_

_He attempted a forward slice, but I blocked the strike, knocking the blow askew and almost taking the sword out of his hand by locking the hilt of my sword under his. Swiftly, I shoved the kid against the trunk of the tree on the central island and stepped back, both of us breathing heavily and glaring at the other. It was everything I could do just to keep my head on my shoulders. Despite wanting to punch him, I kept my distance, sword point dragging in the water, and stared him down quietly._

_"He's copying me, Navi," Link directed at the shimmering ball. "He's copying everything I do, and then he jumps on my sword!"_

_Well, this was a surprise. I hadn't expected any words… maybe a gesture or two, but nothing as fancy as actual words. I also was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt since his name was Link and he had both the Triforce of Courage and the Master Sword in his possession, but he had this petulant bravado coating his words that made him sound at odds with his appearance. He sounded more like my little brother than the legendary swordsman he was probably trying to be. Shaking my head, I demanded disbelievingly, "Are you seriously talking about me when I'm standing right here?"_

_The kid looked at me, nose in the air, sword held tightly in a hand balanced on his hip. "I don't talk to demons."_

_Could he act any more juvenile? …_and that's coming from you, of all people_. Furious with his attitude and the way the glowing ball encouraged his treatment of me, I sheathed my sword as loudly as I could and snapped my fingers in the kid's face. I may have been too weak to warp, but I considered conjuring a small bottle and trapping the annoying ball a good use of limited resources. Turning the dark glass over in my hands, I glared at the faint light trapped inside, which by now I recognised as a fairy… although it definitely wasn't of the usual healing variety. Rather than the pale pink I'd always coveted, this one glowed yellow, pulsating in time to an inhumanly fast heartbeat, and flashed whenever I moved. I didn't like it. The kid didn't like my reaction, but he seemed to respect it._

_"Hey! You can't do that! Let her go right now!" Snatching the bottle from me, he wound up to smash it on the ground- until the fairy inside started ricocheting off the walls of her prison in alarm, and he slowly, thoughtfully, lowered his arm._

_"Maybe you should try thinking for yourself for once."_

_Although I could tell he still was still extremely wary, some of his anger reassuringly fizzled into curiosity. "Okay," he replied slowly, cocking his head and putting the bottle away into a small pouch on his belt, "so if you aren't a demon, what are you? Why are you here?"_

_"Shouldn't I ask you the same thing?" I moved away a few paces to examine the cavern again, but stopped to appraise the kid. If it weren't for his juvenile attitude and excessive use of words, he could've been Link's twin – disregarding, of course, the bright blue of his eyes and the lighter hair, as well as the lankier frame. I noticed that he wore a ratty blue tunic of some rustic material, and a white long-sleeved undershirt, all over a pair of worn ivory riding pants. He even had a long blue cap perched on top of his head. But I couldn't process this Link's readiness to speak. Didn't that violate some sort of character code somewhere? Not only did this kid talk, but he liked to whine too. The Link I actually liked could stop a whinger with a single look. That was skill, or a disability. "Where are we anyway?"_

_Link rolled his eyes. "This is the _water temple_, duh. There's no reason for me _not_ to be down here." Hefting his sword threateningly, he tossed his head with annoyance. "You haven't answered my question, Dark Link!"_

_Wait. What? How could he possibly- "How do you know my name?"_

_"Navi told me," the kid responded matter-of-factly._

_"Navi told you," I repeated faintly. Well that just cleared everything up beautifully, didn't it? "That- I-I've never been here until now. She-"_

_"Navi also said you're a demon," he continued, eyes hooded. "You haven't answered my question."_

_"I'm half-Twili."_

_A sour look twisted his pointed face. "What's a Twili?"_

_"Magic shadow people." I shrugged. "Not from around here."_

_"Sounds like the Sheikah," he mumbled. Before I could stop him and demand more information, he popped his sword back into its sheath and walked away. "I'm leaving. You can come if you want."_

_"I- What?" He'd moved to a section of the wall, and now stood watching me over his shoulder as he knocked on random portions of the face. Why would he- We were fighting less than ten minutes ago. Hell, he'd insulted me by calling me a demon. I just bottled his stupid fairy. Maybe he really was only a naïve kid after all… with a destiny, no doubt. What a combination. "I don't think your fairy would like that very much."_

_Pivoting with surprising grace, he propped his hands on his hips and _pouted_ at me. "_You_ told me to think for myself, and _I_ think I could use a magic shadow. You don't seem like an enemy to me. And I won't let her out until a little later anyway."_

_"Look, kid, I'm not just going to tag along and perform party tricks for-"_

_"I saw your face," he replied forcefully. "I saw your face when I mentioned the Sheikah. You're trying to find them or something, aren't you?"_

_I was not about to let the kid one-up me like that. "And I bet you're on some quest to save a princess named Zelda and kill some guy named Ganondorf, yeah?" Conniving little bastard. That wiped the smug look off his face. "How about we strike a deal?"_

_"Deal?"_

_"Yeah, you know, like an agreement between two parties-"_

_"I know what a deal is," snapped the kid. Still pouting, he continued tapping on the wall until his knuckles rapped against whatever he was looking for, since he stopped and pulled out a bomb, much to my consternation. Of course the kid would have an entire arsenal at his disposal. Perfect. Not only did I have to uncover the details of my arrival here, but I had to worry about possibly getting blasted to smithereens by what seemed to be a little kid trapped in an adult's body. Link coughed. "Okay. So I can introduce you to a Sheikah, and you can do shadow magic for me. Deal?"_

_I interrupted him with, "How old are you?"_

_Without pausing for thought, he replied, "Ten and a half."_

_I gaped openly at him now, but for some reason or another, I didn't feel stupid about it. There was no way in hell this kid could be ten. He was bigger than _me_, and I'd just turned seventeen. It did, however, confirm my suspicions a little. Sort of. "No you aren't."_

_"Yes-" His eyebrows cinched in apparent anger. "Yeah I am."_

_Oh no. I squinted at him again, this time analysing the wide eyes that, now knowing his "age," unmistakably resembled a defiant ten-year-old's – a defiant Renado's, once upon a time. Well, that explained the attitude. I had no doubt that he'd seen and beaten monsters before I came along, as his presence implied… but now, this Link stood quietly, fuming but suddenly obediently, as if by admitting his real age he'd given me some inexplicably important weapon. Maybe he had, since I was most definitely older mentally and more experienced physically than he was. I snapped my fingers and stepped away from him, reeling slightly from the admission, even after the initial struggle to rationalise. "You're really ten, aren't you? What, did you eat some magic beans or something?"_

_Rolling his eyes again, he brushed back his hair and adjusted his hat with a careful tug to the side, so that it sat just off-kilter. "Yes," he repeated. "I'm ten. But it's a long story and I just want to go home." His hand strayed to his hilt, and I turned transient as a precaution, just in case he wanted to try what I thought he might be thinking. Which, as he unsheathed the blade, turned out to be correct – not that transience helped against the Master Sword. But even as he drew his weapon, that expression of uncertainty lingered. "And to go home, I need to break this stupid blood seal-"_

_"Blood seal?" I stared blankly. The kid wriggled his fingers as if requesting one of my appendages for sacrifice. "Kid, what the hell are you talking about, blood- Ow!"_

_As matter-of-factly as before, the kid calmly wiped my blood from his blade with his palm and smeared it on the rock, all while I stood by incredulously, clutching my arm. In truth it was only a nick, but Farore, Nayru, and Din, the Master Sword _hurt_. Allies weren't supposed to cut allies for no reason. Almost in direct response the kid grinned, "Blood seal. Navi says the temple chambers are locked with magic blood seals, and my blood never works. She says only the blood of the monsters inside the temple works on the doors because the temple wants to be purified."_

_Right on cue, the rock melted. I tried not to look offended. Instead, I followed him through the door with an unsettling sense of déjà vu whining at the back of my mind, since Midna and I had properly met in a water temple. All I'd wanted then was to go home to my brother and hide from the problems I ended up facing anyway, unwillingly, unwittingly. This kid just wanted to go home too. Goddesses but we both just wanted to go home now. What a pattern._

_With Link standing at his full height beside me, I beamed in the dim light of the new cave. "A new adventure, then," I announced with painfully false cheer._


	5. the older get younger

And just like a dream, it dispersed peacefully, the details hanging around the fringes of my thoughts. I stared. Not disbelievingly – hell, I'd just about witnessed the events first-person, and I didn't really think magic could conjure up something _that_ real. Zelda sighed breathlessly with a shudder.

"Link… sometimes I think I… forget that we are only mortal."

Only mortal. Sure, we were all only mortal but that apparently didn't except some from divine duties, as the marks on the backs of Link's and Zelda's hands testified. Midna and I didn't even _have_ Triforce pieces or anything like that sort of power, only guilt by association – and just that was enough. It didn't take much. Then again, my life hardly revolved around mortality. Yes, it was true and very, very real at times, but people normally refrained from that kind of thought. It just didn't occur to me unless, of course, the occasion called for it, like in the depths of some goddesses-forsaken well or in a sunny grove surrounded by enemy hordes. I had no idea what I was talking about, sitting here safe and sound with Princess Zelda in Link's tree house. I had no idea because now wasn't one of those occasions, and if I tried to think back to any of them, all I remembered was wanting to die for a reason other than simply running out of luck or time or health. I understood I was mortal, absolutely. But the reason I fought and would still fight, not for a second did I believe that was mortal. Or, maybe more accurately put, not for a second did I believe that the reason would end _with_ me.

She began again with a little more resolve this time. "Link brought me to Castletown," she murmured almost lovingly. "He wanted to show me that I had to earn Hyrule's trust."

"True enough."

Sparing only a glance, she inclined her head and breathed deeply through her nose. "He introduced me to some citizens of Kakariko as well. It was in the graveyard there that I recalled the legends… and when I asked Link to join my charade, he refused and left for the desert."

"Oh, Nayru, don't tell me he's been skulking around there waiting for Midna to appear." That wasn't bloody fair. Besides, he should know her well enough to realise she'd hardly pop out of the empty frame – she'd make an entrance where he least expected it and try her damned hardest to scare the stuffing out of him. It was Entrance-Making 101. Hell, it was _Midna_ 101. Melodrama aside, I was struck with just how depressing a scenario it was, with Link sitting alone in the Mirror Chamber like some fatally-loyal puppy. I had no idea what passed between them when they warped ahead to the desert on my last night in Hyrule, but I hoped Midna hadn't led him on. She'd been utterly baffled by talk of the Sheikah and Gates of Time, and to think that she might have hinted that it wasn't the end, that she was going to return-

Shaking my head, I watched Zelda's face for any hints of confirmation, but she remained impassive. Careworn, but impassive. The crown jewels were scattered over the table invitingly and, as she probably expected, I began twirling the coronet in midair to give her a chance to react. No dice. "You know," I continued, "I'd really like to think that Midna understands mercy. She can't be that cruel." This was a mix of wishful thinking and rose-tinted hindsight and a healthy dose of denial. I knew full well that she was capable of mercy… but at the same time, I'd personally witnessed her cruelty, which was definitely something I never wanted to experience again. She wouldn't have suggested her return – to Link, of all people – unless she was certain. Or relatively certain. None of it made sense.

"I cannot speak for her," she finally said, and she sounded downright exhausted. "I cannot speak for Midna's motives. Not anymore."

"I'm gonna chalk it up as a good thing. The whole split personality thing was a bit off-putting." She smirked, and I grinned back. "Well I don't think Midna would lie to Link on purpose about something like that. Just to put it out there. But I also know that she didn't have any definite theories about opening a new portal aside from finding some mythical tribe in the Outlands."

"Let us hope she is successful then," she replied with a small, warm smile. "That species of portal would be a Door of Time, much like the passage in the Sacred Grove here. Only those blessed by the goddesses may use them."

"If you can lump the Sheikah in with them, sure." With a shrug, I went back to the bed and began fiddling with the cloak I'd used as a blanket. It smelt strongly of sand. "_She_ sent _me_ to find them. I'm not sure how long it'll take before she realises I'm no longer around."

"You sound so morbid."

I pulled a face and began examining the spartan room. "Forgive my bitterness, but I was thrown off a balcony by some crazy officer of the guard. I'm still not entirely convinced that this isn't some elaborate afterlife trial by-" Swathed in some other fabric and lying innocently at the foot, I noticed a certain blade and just about gagged. "Oh, Farore," I moaned, levitating it over and checking for damage. Thankfully, though, all I found were the bloodstains the kid always refused to wash off. Little psycho. "Farore help me, but that actually happened. I take it back. This is actually happening. I left this in the Sacred Grove, didn't I?"

"You frightened the children." Whether Zelda got some perverse amusement from the notion of terrified children or from the existential musings, I wasn't sure. Either way I did not appreciate it, and let it show in my baleful scowl. "They are convinced that a monster tried to attack them."

"I hope you explained that _you_ were the one who summoned the 'monster.'" Avoiding her gaze, I set to weaving bits of my shadow into a sheath for the stolen sword. No one but the Triforce of Courage could wield the damn thing, so it wasn't like I could even pick it up and thrust it through a belt loop – not if I wanted a functional hand. I placed it with my usual sword after refashioning the baldric to accommodate both sheaths. "It was the eyes, right? All people remember are the horror stories."

"You are not a demon," Zelda admonished.

"I'm not much better."

"Link-" There was a note of warning in her tone, but beyond that, I detected a reluctance, some hesitation – she wanted to tell me something. Then it evaporated with a sigh.

Frustrated, I wrung the cloak restlessly, pretending it was that awful lieutenant's neck, or someone equally detestable. A second later, I let the crumpled fabric go. "So Link's still in Castletown with those people? The ones that are loyal to you? Being a hero again, I take it?"

"He fights for Hyrule, as he always has."

_That's not roundabout at all_.

'_I needn't explain the complications._'

"No," I answered slowly, "I lived through some of them. But seriously, don't you think this is kind of… I don't know, ridiculous? Ganondorf's dead and there's still so much work to be done. It never ends. It actually never ends." One door literally closed and another opened. The irony shook me to the core. Then again, I hadn't really given much thought to the aftermath, unlike the Wisdom in the room. Link and I had talked about stupid things like fishing, not rebuilding a nation, and I liked it that way. I didn't like thinking about politics. I almost wanted to laugh, but pinched the bridge of my nose instead. "I don't understand Zelda. It's just not fair."

"Isn't it?" Suspicious, I leant forward to better antagonise her without much effect. She had a glimmer in her eyes, a kind of violet sparkle that danced with the reflection of the fire. "Isn't it, Link?" she repeated, gracefully flowing to her feet and moving to the hearth; the back of her hand pulsed brightly. "Unlike Ganon's, my Triforce remains; until it fades, you cannot convince me that Hyrule has no need of Wisdom."

"Or Courage," I added pointedly.

"Or Courage." Zelda nodded, that passion still burning through her and right into me. "Link, I believe the Triforce is a catalyst. When Hyrule _must_ change, bearers surface to initiate a chain of events and see it through to completion. We are bound by duty, tied to a greater purpose-"

I stopped her by brushing her hand. "I think you're forgetting that you're only mortal again, Zel."

She simply stared. Silently, perfectly still, she stared at me with eyes suddenly rendered inanimate objects by shock or realisation or some crazy revelation. Like glossy buttons fixed in her face. Whatever it was, it tamed the fire in her eyes and returned her to her usual state of cool-calm-collected. A minute or two passed, during which she seemed to rejoin the land of lowly mortals – I could easily imagine her feet touching the floor again, and her hair and eyes losing some ethereal glow. When the Triforce stopped shimmering in time to her heartbeat, she finally refocused her gaze and sighed in something like acceptance. I shook my head.

"You know, you never did explain how I heard you, or why," I started quietly. "I know that a Sheikah helped me through that other door into the kid's time but- Zelda, I don't know when else I'll get the chance…" Our eyes met, and she encouraged me, as if she already knew what I wanted to say. It was… comforting, in a disconcerting way. Or maybe vice versa. I took a deep, steadying breath, held it, and released the words in a rush: "I think we're- that we're connected somehow. Am I wrong?"

"Do you trust me, Link?"

Ignoring the confusion, I looked her in the eye with as much conviction as I could muster. What the hell kind of question was that? "With my life, Zelda. For- a while there I wasn't sure, but- Something in me wants to say that. And mean it." _And you know that already_.

'_You know my reply._'

I wanted to say that I didn't, because that was the first thing that occurred to me – but the second thing told me that it wasn't true. This close to her again, I felt the connection thrumming along powerfully at my core, the one that had called me to her side in the nick of time back on the trail. It had strengthened since the fight when Ganondorf possessed her, but it was undoubtedly the same connection. I wasn't about to pretend, either, that I knew what it was or why we shared it – only that it existed and we had to acknowledge it now that it mattered. It wasn't exactly easy to sweep under the rug after it managed to drag a body across time and space. And then it hit me.

_This is goodbye, isn't it_.

It wasn't a question at this point. I could feel it just as much as see it in her eyes, and yet she still tried to dull the inevitable hurt.

"You can wait," she told me softly. "We can make time-"

"No we can't."

Theoretically, I had all the time in the world, with the kid's sword strapped to my back. Nothing would happen until I stepped back into the kid's time and replaced the damn thing in the pedestal because he couldn't complete his quest without it. Zelda was right… but wrong, too. There would be no breathing room, no catching up, no _stalling_. Our discussion about duty had energised me in a way I almost resented as fiercely as I'd ever resented anything before: I had an undeniable duty to return the sword. I owed it to Midna, too, to find the Sheikah, just as she'd asked back in the throne room so long ago. More importantly, I owed it to Link, if Midna was right about another portal, although I wouldn't have time to see him now unless I warped to Castletown and tracked him down. And I could. I could also just as easily find my brother and try to… reconnect with him.

One glance out the window reminded me that I'd slept the day away to regain some semblance of health, no thanks to whatever spell Zelda had cast. I didn't want to be the monster in the night, creeping along children's bedsides to startle them awake, either. But I also just didn't have it in me to go back to the village now because I wasn't Link. I didn't possess his courage, or even very much courage at all. I merely shared Zelda's sense of duty. And Din, but sometimes I felt like that was all I had …to hide behind. One thing was certain, though: I would not see anyone else tonight.

Zelda inclined her head almost in response. It was now or never, then. When she grasped my hand, I automatically stuffed the envelope she'd given me into the cloak's inner pocket, yanked it over my shoulders, and with baldric in hand, warped to the Sacred Grove. This time, the woods were silent. Muted. Nothing so much as stirred as she pressed a palm against the weathered stone of the doors to the Temple of Time and willed them open with the golden light of Wisdom. The breath caught in my throat despite my best efforts.

"You know I can't just… This isn't permanent though," I mumbled. I found it faintly amusing, too, that once upon a time, I'd asked Midna about the permanence of my transformation. Because of that memory, I said it louder. "This isn't permanent, Zelda." _This. Is. Not. Permanent_.

"You will come home," she agreed emphatically. "You must come home." '_…to me._'

I grinned at her to ease the tension. "Is that an order?" She nodded only slightly, but I knew I'd accomplished my goal from the laughter in her tiny smile. "I'm coming back, Zelda. I promise. Just like last time."

She was holding her head high now, and even though she didn't have her coronet or her dress or anything else to identify her birthright, I saw the regal bearing. I saw it, but felt that thread again, tugging and tugging and tugging. It was time for me to go. My hand slipped out of hers as I moved towards the doorway, prompting our gazes to lock as the distance grew between us. One step, two steps – another, and I'd be through the shimmering barrier.

'_Good luck._'


	6. and the boys go on

It had been days since his annoying grin had last appeared over the edge of her desk, those big crimson eyes of his turned up at the corners in amusement, his fingers wrapped around the tabletop. That was their daily interaction: he would slip into her study, a private meeting, something similarly restricted, and pull faces at her from the shadows until she furiously sent him out of the room or she gratefully stopped what she was doing to address his antics. Days. And still no word.

"You're so _stupid_ sometimes," hissed Midna, slamming her fists on the arms of her throne. The court meeting concluded some minutes ago, but she hadn't moved from her seat except to set a seal on the door. Now, finally, she launched into pacing the room angrily. "Goddesses, Link, what were you _thinking_?"

It was a new low for him, which definitely said something since her first association between Dark Link and stupidity was the incident in the Temple of Time when he'd run headfirst into a live electric current. She knew firsthand just how pigheaded he could be too – pigheaded, and prone to elaborate pity-parties whenever someone even hinted at hurting his feelings. Sure, she'd made her share of mistakes; for one thing, she probably should've gone about telling him in a more sensitive manner. A little less big-reveal, a little more… apprehension? A little more gentleness? There were probably a million different ways to approach a problem like that, and she just so happened to choose the least delicate of the lot. She of all people knew that he was no good at soul-searching without an audience. Din, if she'd just been able to translate the anxiety coiling and uncoiling incessantly in her chest, this might have been avoided. Maybe it all might have been avoided. Or, as was more likely, not. Just thinking about it gave her the feeling that she was pressing her luck and at this point, she wasn't sure how much she had left to her name.

"I'm not wrong about you, though." Midna shook her head with certainty. "I'm _not_ wrong. I-"

She stopped when a light knock sounded at the door. "If you aren't Glomin, go away," she snapped irritably, but released the seal anyway. No one would dare interrupt her unless it was important, not after a warning like that. Predictably, the door drifted open to reveal the stout captain, concern spread across his broad face. She couldn't find any trace of his favourite three-point hat, although he did have his favourite heavy cloak slung about his shoulders. Utterly motionless in mid-stride, she felt her heartbeat speed up dramatically as she appraised him from across the room.

"All right, Princess?"

Midna blinked and instantly returned to her seat at the throne, jaw slack. Glomin approached slowly with something tattered clutched in his hand that he seemed reluctant to relinquish and that she was less than excited to see. It was important, yes – worst of all though, Midna knew instinctively that it would confirm her worst fears. Since his departure for the Outlands, she'd had a nagging feeling that something wasn't right, that Link wasn't on his way west. After being relieved of Zelda's presence and returning to the chaos of the Twilight Realm, she'd tried hard to channel the Light-Dweller princess' cool reasoning and diplomacy and characteristics. Link had commented on it a few times as a source of suspicion, but he'd also expressed his surprise at how well the application of Zelda worked. Occasionally. She'd agreed. But while Zelda had Wisdom, Midna only had her gut instinct. And her gut had told her repeatedly that it just wasn't time, that Link wasn't ready, that they needed to compile more evidence before he could even begin to grasp the truth – now, it warned again of foul play.

"Give it to me!" Snatching it out of his hands, she turned the stiff scrap of fabric over in her hands, resisting the urge to tear it to shreds. "Where did you-?"

The captain only rocked back onto his heels, with that blank weariness of his that always scared her to the bone. He only ever looked this grave… the last time she remembered the expression on him, he'd told her of her uncle's death. "Sent a diver. Sent a few, actually. One of 'em came up wif that today an' I thought you'd wanna see."

"Damn right I want to see." The pain flared in her chest and she ran a finger lightly over the dull, dried substance coating most of the rough black scrap. "This was Link's tunic, I'm sure of it. But this- Glomin, Twili blood is blue, and Hylian red," she continued quietly, almost fearfully. "Only Link's is purple."

"Aye," he agreed, dipping his head. "'Tis the boy's blood a'right. Found sommat else that you oughta see. C'mon."

Lightly touching her shoulder, he warped her outside to a barren stretch of land directly below the balcony of the palace. They were well below the foundations; an arrow shot from their position might just barely brush the balcony above – it was one hell of a fall, and they weren't even into the valley yet. Midna's eye caught on a bright red scarf tied to a new marker of black wood, shoved into the rocky ash-grey soil near what looked like the last outcropping before a straight drop into the abyss. Tendrils of lavender fog drifted past their ankles from over the precipice and its perimeter like a reverse waterfall, and she shivered. She glanced searchingly at the captain, now rocking nervously on his heels.

"Glomin, what did you find?" But she almost didn't want to know. She didn't want to find a body in the ravine. Oh goddesses, she couldn't bear that. Glomin always had an uncanny amount of affection for the boy, though… so much that Midna refused to believe he was capable of leading her to a mangled corpse without any specific warning. Their camaraderie usually made her smile, especially whenever she'd found them together on the breezeway or sitting beside one another in the library, pretending to read. Quite the pair of troublemakers. Now, he smiled slightly at her in something like apology.

"Midna, look down."

She gawked at him. "Down?"

"Down."

Slowly, she moved towards the ledge. The familiar warmth of whatever lay below brushed against her clammy skin, and the occasional spark from the sky lit the swirling mist with infrequent ethereal glimmers, as if the fairies she remembered from the healing springs in Hyrule were playing a game of hide-and-seek. Taking a deep breath she knelt onto all fours and stuck her head over disturbingly empty air- only to find that it wasn't empty. She scrambled sideways off the ledge and carefully dropped herself onto the steep side of the cliff below, grasping rocks and jamming her hands and feet into crevices until she'd managed to descend a rough path down to another little shelf, this one much wider and flatter than the narrow strip that ringed the palace. The mist rose all around her now, over her head and completely obscuring the healing sky as well as Glomin's peaky face waiting for her just a stone's throw above. Tiny drooping flowers bloomed here along the seam that joined the abrupt shelf to the rest of the cliff, delicate white vines twirled over a rectangular something set into the face, and grey-orange moss covered much of the same area... except for a telling void that led away into nowhere.

"Glomin!" she called louder than she'd meant. "Glomin, what is this!"

Moments later, he slid down the slope too, showering her with loose pebbles and bits of vines wound over the face. Before he could answer her, Midna pointed angrily at the obviously ajar door. "I know_- _I want to know what's it doing open like this!"

His face fell and she knew it was a pointless question; the man had only found it. One of the divers – the intelligent but mute birds the aviary trained for kicks – must have discovered the place when it picked up the scrap of cloth. But the bird couldn't have pushed the door mostly shut again. Something or someone had tried to close it, and had mostly succeeded except for a sliver of velvety black; someone had pushed it shut, and if Link's tunic had been found here, there was a good chance he'd been shoved inside. She knew what this structure meant and what it meant to have it left ajar, and consequently felt the fury tear through her because all this time, she'd been so afraid that the sky burning had been her fault. She'd been so doubtful of her own actions because not even Zelda was entirely certain of her conclusion. With an eye towards the worst, Midna had told herself repeatedly that she was willing to accept the consequences – someone else had clearly decided otherwise, and incorrectly at that. Dark Link had nothing to do with the burning sky; she had caused the problems on her own inadvertently with the destruction of the Mirror. It infuriated her even more that everything seemed so planned, and she'd missed it all.

She'd missed _so_ much. All this time, a door had been literally right under her nose.

Goddesses, and she might have been wrong, too.

Unwilling to contemplate that reality and the guilt associated with it, she turned stiffly to her friend. "Glomin. Do we know who opened this?" she asked him quietly.

He looked a little uncomfortable, but nevertheless nodded. "I believe... well, I might. We can go talk to 'im iffen you like."

"Oh, I'll do more than talk." She brushed a hand over the rough stone beneath the vegetation, but she couldn't bring herself to seal the door once again. Brushing aside the moss with an impatient hand, she peered curiously at the design carved into the heavy lid, a large stylised eye and its single tear staring back at her as she stood contemplating the striking familiarity of it. Hope hit her, hard. "I will do much more than talk to him, Glomin," she muttered again. "But first..."

"Midna." The captain blinked, suspicion slowly seeping into his gaze. "You aren't..."

Her eyes snapped to him in a challenge. "And what if I am?" He blinked again, stunned. Her lips curved into a snarl automatically as she gestured violently at the portal. "He's in there, Glomin. There's nowhere he could be- why else would we have found part of his tunic here? His _bloody_ tunic. He's hurt, and possibly trapped- I _knew_ something had happened-" Midna shook her head violently. "No, give me your notes." Obediently the captain held out his small journal. Snatching it greedily, she nearly ripped the pen out of the spine and proceeded to scrawl a note about an abrupt trip to a neighbouring village, that she would be accompanying Glomin on an evaluation of the realm, that she had travelled on ahead with some of the villagers. When she finished her scribbling, she tore out the sheet and shoved all three items back into his thick hands. "Go on, then. I trust you, Glomin," she told him seriously. "I trust you. I made this mess, and I need to fix it."

For a minute, she thought he would refuse. She thought he'd reprimand her, gently, just as he'd done when she was a girl and prone to bouts of mischief within the palace. But the blank face merely faded to resignation, and he smiled tightly. "Yes mum," the captain quipped at her. Next moment, she was alone before the door, adrenaline jolting through her.

"Okay, Midna." She shut her eyes, breathing in deep through her nose. "You told him to wait. Nayru, _you told him to wait_. Don't be wrong. Don't be _wrong_- This has to be his door; he made it through. He really is-"

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled; Midna's eyes popped open in an instant, and she just about choked at the face looming out of the darkness of the portal's interior. The face smiled sadly at her. "I'm afraid you won't find him here, dear."

L

Link didn't want to be here. He'd only come to collect a message before returning to Kakariko, but his source was late. After meeting with the cavaliers of the guard – the men loyal to the crown – one of them, a man that he vaguely remembered from the hazy fight to reclaim Castletown, had accompanied him to the rendezvous point. Now Rube, the redheaded and heavily freckled giant of a man in the traditional uniform, stood swinging a half-full tankard of ale on the other side of the room, telling a few of the other assembled men about Good Ol' Link, as if he were some sort of war buddy. Link didn't resent Rube for that, exactly... but he did want to leave. Very much so.

Another twenty or so minutes passed and still he hadn't moved. Instead, he sat quietly on a rickety barstool, a barely-touched drink in his hand, and scrutinised every person who passed through the front door. He wasn't entirely sure of the setting aside from the obvious: this was someone's home, probably a guardsmen he didn't know or had met only briefly. It was small; nothing fancy, just another cramped rowhouse made of stone and wood with two narrow windows of thick, streaky glass framing the heavy oaken door and adding negligible light to the cosy living space. By the smells wafting from an unseen room that led off to the left of the door, Link guessed at a pantry or kitchen despite the main hearth taking up most of the wall opposite. A short flight of stairs that ended in gloom huddled in the far corner, and aside from a few pieces of rustic furniture, including his chair, that was all the house had to offer. Well, and whatever was in his cup.

Resisting the urge to sigh impatiently, he sat back against the wall, only now realising how awkward it was as the only person in the room armed to the teeth. The other soldiers – maybe six or eight in total – had been celebrating something prior to his arrival, and only wore their uniform tunics while their weapons and breastplates and cloaks waited patiently in a jumble on a threadbare armchair in the corner. Not that he possessed any motivation whatsoever to hide his accessories. With ale everywhere and food potentially on the way, Link just stared at the merrymaking around him, listening detachedly to stories about guard duty and the Field and something about a birth, his mind just short of slipping into a stupor. He'd been in the same corner for the past two hours, and the warm fire combined with the buzz of voices was slowly but surely lulling him into a daze. If the source didn't appear in the next half-hour, Link fully intended to leave. He'd been caught off-guard once already; he wasn't about to stumble into another ambush. Midna would kill him.

Midna.

That roused him a little. Rallying, he hopped off the stool to stretch with the Twili's face firmly fixed in his imagination as a reminder to curb his impatience, because the source wasn't the only thing he awaited with bated breath. When she warped him to the desert for the last time, she'd promised that she would see him again soon and accordingly, he believed her implicitly. In her case, maybe that was a weakness… Farore, but if he had a rupee for every time he scolded himself for his loyalty- Well. That was beside the point since he wasn't about to pretend that he didn't trust her. However, he also trusted her to know that he would _wait_, as long as it took. And if it hadn't been for the burning castle, he would have happily stayed in the desert, napping on the warm sandstone of the Mirror Chamber, idly practising his marksmanship, and generally savouring the hard-won respite before the inevitable plunge into chaos. Procrastination only got him so far when lives were at stake. Curse his sense of duty. Curse his patience.

_If you can even call it that_.

Annoyance bit at him and he flopped back onto his chair, back pressed against the wall, the very picture of sullen. Vaguely, he caught himself wondering about the Twilight Realm, and how Dark Link was getting along with the Twili court. The boy had an uncanny knack for trouble. But he'd also been able to win Midna's affection, and Link considered that no small feat, so maybe all was going as well as could be expected over there. Besides, he liked him. Usually. The thought of Ilia and Colin still made him uncomfortable, sure, and sustained exposure to the half-shadow's antics severely frayed his nerves at times, but on the whole, the kid meant well – most of the time, anyway. And Link wanted to wish him well. When the Mirror began to shatter, it had been evident just how little Midna had told him just by the shock on Dark Link's face. Link himself hadn't even been prepared for that, and he'd suspected a dramatic departure. Sometimes, Midna liked keeping secrets just to torture other people; he sincerely hoped that now wasn't one of those times. Fooling someone into thinking they were trapped would _not_ end well for either party, regardless of the intentions.

"Link?"

He blinked, a blatant question, and tried not to seem too rude by staring expectantly at his escort from earlier.

Rube grinned toothily, his eyes red and his mouth a little numb. "Link, I was just about to tell the boys about when you saved the town!" he proclaimed proudly, attempting to nudge Link's shoulder. The younger man cringed but Rube continued, "Yeah, it was fantastic- Y'wouldn't've believed it iffen you was _there_!"

"We _was_ there, y'clotpole!"

Sensing the change in the atmosphere from lazy contentment to charged interest, Link determinedly snaked his way out of the room and into the kitchen, almost knocking into a petite woman carrying a tray laden with food in his haste to escape. He hadn't expected to find the backdoor ajar, but he didn't mind taking advantage of it. Slipping outside, he breathed in the cool night air and released it slowly, feeling his nerves calm almost instantly; that was a story he didn't need any help remembering. The chaos had only increased after his disposal of the leader, and Castletown quickly descended into intense skirmishes for the next two days. The capital shut down. For a while, it was touch-and-go as the cavaliers of the city – from the guardsmen to the peasants visiting from the outlying settlements – negotiated terms, but in the end most of the immediate conflict had been resolved with promises of reform, and changes in the council's governance of the country… and increased patrols. It was that latter part that Link fought against now, as well as the subtle rooting-out of 'rebels.' The source tonight-

A woman screamed.

Rushing back inside, he immediately caught sight of the source of commotion: a man had stumbled in from the street, covered in blood from a shallow gash across his throat. Hands pressed against the wound, he was gargling something to the men crowded around him in concern and horror; the moment Link reentered the room, Rube turned and hauled him closer to the injured man.

"He's askin' for ya-"

He leant down, almost kneeling. The man was dressed in a blood-stained, handspun tunic and muddy breeches, the garb of a farmer. As Link drew closer, he pressed a crumpled piece of parchment into his hand and mumbled a barely recognisable, "T-Telma."

Another man, presumably the farmer's companion judging by the bruised and bloodied face, grasped Link's sleeve before he could rise again. "The boy told 'em," he said frantically. "He was Telma's boy, the one what cleans the cups an' serves the- They caught us on the way here and the boy just couldn't take no more of it-"

Link fixed him with a hard glare, and someone nearby snapped, "Spit it out already from the beginning! You ain't makin' sense!"

"We was on our way to meet you- sir. Link. Sir." He groaned suddenly in obvious pain. "Oh, goddesses have mercy. Goddesses have mercy! We was just followin' orders- We was just supposed to escort Kent here, but we ran into a patrol on the other side o' town and some bloke said he knew us and-and- and General Hart was with 'em. They- The boy couldn't take no more but he killed him anyways-"

Carefully unfolding the message, he discovered with some disappointment that the bearer's sweaty, bloody palm had caused the ink to run into indecipherable streaks. Rube snatched the soggy paper and waved it in the man's face – Kent had been borne elsewhere for first aid. "What's it say, man! What's the message!" he shouted. The others took up the cry, but Link sharply gestured for silence and the room instantly stilled. The man on the floor gulped, eyes darting to and fro like an animal's; he was slipping into shock. Impatiently, Link thumped him on the shoulder.

"The bar- Kent was supposed to tell you about a-" He suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Link by the front of his tunic. "That don't matter- They're gonna hit Telma's."


	7. a price you pay to live this way

"Oh bloody hell," I croaked, raising myself up onto my forearms and trying unsuccessfully to sit up. Tiles had replaced the grass, and the place reeked of smoke. I could smell blood, too, which I didn't like at all. I'd only meant it as an expletive, not as a summons of all things hated. I couldn't remember anything past Zelda, and a blinding pain. Oh, and the vomiting – that had been loads of fun. And very, very disorienting. Clenching a hand, I started to move again when someone stuck something pointy and forbiddingly familiar right between my shoulder blades.

"Link, I'm really awfully sorry, but I swear to Din it wasn't my fault this time," I pleaded without turning my head. This was the Temple of Time, that much I registered. Well, the kid's Temple of Time, and I was lying at the foot of the stairs that led to the pedestal room. I wouldn't find Zelda here, that much was apparent. The person holding the pointy object drifted into the periphery, and I could just barely make out blue eyes and- Wait a second, red hair? I kicked out suddenly and knocked the feet from under a blue-eyed, redheaded girl around my age, clothed in a plain white dress and an embroidered amber apron. She immediately lost the loose hold she'd had, sending my sword skittering across the tile and nearly severing a good part of my hand in the process, and then sat quietly glaring at me, clutching – of all things – a _shovel_ to her breast. Yes, it was wonderful that it wasn't my sword anymore. But a _shovel_? My poor muddled mind reeled. "Aw, bloody hell. Who the hell are you?"

The girl tossed her long hair, affronted. "That's no way to talk to a lady."

"Well excuse me, but you don't exactly look the part." She blinked at me. And then she took the handle of her shovel and very rudely and unexpectedly smacked me across the face with it. I hit the floor again, moaning, but the girl apparently had other plans since she grabbed me under the arm and tried hoisting me to my feet. Flinching from the sudden contact and dizzy from the elevation change, I barked, "What the hell was that for! Let go of me!"

Still looking spectacularly affronted despite her supporting position, she grinned snarkily, "'Well excuse me, but you don't exactly look the part.' How's your head?"

"Well you don't!" I snapped back at her, still clutching my face. "My head- Why? What did you do to me?" I gingerly probed the back of my head and groaned at the warm, sticky mess – and horrendously stained hat, clutched teasingly in her free hand. "Did you do this? Did you hit me with that freaking shovel?" I demanded, pointing roughly at said instrument and losing my balance again. Her grip tightened with a small grunt.

"Maybe you should sit down."

"You _did_! You beat me with a shovel!" I hollered at her hysterically. There was an awful echo in here. "You ruined my hat! You could've killed me, you crazy-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll finish the job." Blue eyes flitted to my face for a brief moment, then smugly fixed themselves onto a brown canvas pack leaning against the wall. Most of the place was in shadow; hardly any light streamed through the giant stained glass windows that lined the hall, and the dead, stuffy silence told me that we were alone. Not a desirable conclusion. "You look- I recognise this hat," she accused boldly, even pausing to shake the bloodied fabric in my face. "You just said- How do you know Link?"

"Uh."

The girl leant in curiously with searching eyes, then shook her head when she didn't find what she was looking for, whatever that was. She smelt strongly of horses and grass and Ordon and it just made the splitting headache that much more unbearable. "Besides, _you _deserved it, for stumbling out of the dark like that. I thought you were another one of those monsters."

I drew in a quick breath that sounded more like a gasp than I intended. No wonder my head was killing me: some idiot girl had taken the liberty to beat me senseless with a freaking shovel _in the Temple of Time_. Who the hell carted a shovel around _in the Temple of Time_? Really? For goddesses' sakes this was supposed to be a _refuge_. Maybe I'd just found myself the village nutcase or something. I stared at her incredulously after she set me against the wall and proceeded to dig through her pack for something or other, probably one of those little spades to gouge out my eyes. At least she hadn't gotten a hold of the other sword thanks to the infused magic of the sheath. Small victory. The girl hobbled back over to me balanced on her knees with a mischievous smile on her round face and a small leather pouch in her hand, but almost toppled over in a heap when I unthinkingly seized her by the front of her dress.

"I- How did you get in here? What-"

She cringed in disgust. "Let go of me, creep!"

Releasing her, I rested the entire right side of my body against the cold, reassuring solidity of the stone wall and leant my forehead against the pillar in front of me. "Ugh, c'mon," I all but begged. "It's really important." That was putting it lightly. The last time I'd been in future Castletown, I'd lost count of the redeads wandering the place. Those damn things made my skin crawl. And with this girl mysteriously here, well, I wasn't sure what to think. I needed to replace the Master Sword in the pedestal and be on my way, but this girl- "Please, I need to- Come on, lady, you hit me with a goddesses-damned shovel. Give me a break."

"Don't call me that! I'm not old!" I rolled my eyes at her indignant huffing and puffing, but for all her tough-girl acting she relented and pointed over my shoulder at the big oaken doors with something like fear lingering in her voice. "Link said he was heading here. And when he didn't come back to the ranch like he promised, I came here looking for him."

Ranch. The kid had mentioned a ranch. I knew this girl… by a degree or two of separation.

_The roaring grew louder and louder around us until I finally solidified, and leant forward just enough for him to hear my yell._

_"Isn't there a waterfall coming up? LINK!"_

_A hand suddenly appeared out of the water, waving me off. We were rapidly approaching another hairpin bend, beyond which every noise in the world seemed to be emanating in a cacophonous chorus. As we neared the corner, the spray began to mist the area and drench our already sopping heads. If I didn't know better, I'd have said that the spray posed a bigger issue than the waterfall; the water filled the air so completely, it was as if the entire passage had never contained an air pocket at all. With every breath, I found myself choking uncontrollably._

_That same hand abruptly caught the baldric keeping my sheath in place, causing me to bang roughly into the stone wall. Link's face loomed out of the perpetual downpour, his other hand extended toward me, his mouth shouting something about something important, something I assumed to be the waterfall. Not wanting to drown, I grasped his hand and managed to drag myself out of the water and onto a very narrow island of stone, set just close enough to an alcove in the wall to offer shelter from the rabid spray. His gauntlets squeaked loudly as he rubbed his hands together, and placed them tiredly on his knees._

_"I," he panted, trying to catch his breath. "I hate… this place."_

_I opted to sprawl on the slick, painfully uneven floor. We wouldn't even be in _this_ particular place if the stupid kid hadn't pushed me over the edge of a broken pathway and into a deep, swift current that threaded through the rock foundations of the temple. Clearly, I was not pleased with this turn of events… but at least he dove in after me. "Me too. Remind me… why I'm here?" _

_Clattering loudly, the kid sank down beside me, still breathing heavily as he tugged on the worn straps for his sheath, sword, and quiver. The heavy leather had cut into his neck during the mad swim to this goddesses-sent refuge and left angry red gashes in his skin. I watched as he pressed a hand against the wounds, then shrugged in irritation when watery bloodstains dirtied the cloths tied tightly under his gauntlets. I wanted to say that he deserved it for shoving someone over a precipice but I just couldn't summon the conviction. Not right now, at least._

_"So," I started, my voice barely carrying over the rush of the falls, "you definitely know how to handle yourself, kid."_

_He didn't reply for several minutes. I took the opportunity to just lie there on the cool floor, sucking air in, holding it, forcing it out again, feeling the way the back of my tunic slowly adhered to the slicked rock. Just like in the Lakebed Temple, this place had a stuffy quality about it, making every breath that much more precious and revolting at the same time. My eyes had drifted shut when Link finally offered a few words._

_"I'm going to call you D," he said softly. "You can help me. I don't want to do this."_

_"Do what?"_

_I heard him sigh, but it sounded more like a wheeze because of all the water he'd inhaled. "They… put me to sleep, for seven years. I woke up in this weird place, looking like this, taller and stronger and _older_. It was so strange, like a really bad dream I can't wake up from." He stopped talking abruptly, as if he'd just realised something. For several heartbeats I waited patiently, staring at nothing in particular and letting bits and pieces of his narrative hang crystallised in the air. Shaking his head, he just unsheathed his sword and examined it absently in the gloom. "The princess is making me go on this dumb quest to save all the sages, and then eventually kill Ganondorf so she can live happily ever after."_

_"…What's going to happen to you?"_

_"I dunno," he mumbled glumly. "She never said."_

_I glanced at him, curiosity piqued. "Then why do you do it? It's not like she's promised you anything if you kill the guy." _Are you encouraging selfishness?

_Link gave me an odd look. "It's the right thing to do. Malon agrees."_

_"Malon, huh?" I felt a mean grin stretching my face, and it was only a very vague recollection of his mental age that I refrained from any innuendo. "Who's Malon?"_

_"My best friend," he answered earnestly. "Her dad owns Lon Lon Ranch. I visit her whenever I can in between sages, and we play with the horses."_

This girl raised Epona, that stupid doe-eyed mare with no personality whatsoever. She had to be, because who else had a deep enough connection to the kid to warrant a hike all the way to monster-filled Castletown on the strength of a rumour? He always visited the place alone whenever he had a spare moment and even when he didn't, he never wasted any time in threatening me with Din's Fire and the Master Sword if I didn't stay where Navi could see me, at some specified distance from the ranch. The kid never really spoke about her in front of me, but I knew. She had the same tenacity I recognised in Midna – and unfortunately, that meant that she would follow me anywhere if it meant finding Link. That made her a liability, and made the situation incredibly troublesome because when the sword was replaced, BAM! I would disappear and reappear with a teenaged Link out of thin air and it'd be terribly complicated. Then again, _I_ wouldn't have to explain anything to her, so maybe it was worth it, especially since she already wanted a word with him. As Dark Link I had a right to be mischievous. Naming me proved to be the bane of Midna's existence. There was no doubt. Goddesses, it was hard to think straight.

I scrutinised her for a second before stating simply, "You're Malon, then."

She only blinked, unimpressed. "You're bleeding all over my favourite dress." I didn't bother replying and shut my eyes, but that didn't keep her out. Instead, she edged closer, and with a gentleness that belied her penchant for violence-first-questions-later, I felt her wipe the blood from my face with a soft, damp handkerchief. "I only had one fairy." I looked at her, but she just about shoved the fabric into my mouth to stifle any questions, trading it for some minty salve that she rubbed roughly into the scrapes on my face that must have come from falling down the stairs. _So much for the gentleness_. "I… Another in your cloak already helped you though. You're a friend of Link's, aren't you?"

Spitting out the gag, I commented dryly, "When convenient." So I'd already had a fairy. Maybe that was why my head didn't sting, since the gash had already been healed. Fantastic.

"You're D," she smirked. "I wasn't sure until … Well, when you jumped out of the dark like that, I thought the monsters had broken in. I… don't think I ever… you know, believed Link that he'd met a talking shadow."

"It's a little more than that." Malon handed me another handkerchief, this one soaked in cool liquid from a small glass bottle. Felt nice. I pressed it against the back of my head without protest and closed my eyes again. The stone behind my shoulder was fantastically reassuring. "I'm only part shadow. I'm still a person, you know."

"You bleed purple."

"Yeah," I snapped at her, "but you're missing the important part: I bleed."

For a long while neither of us said anything, and I just sat quietly against the wall listening to her rummage around, dress rustling loudly in the silence of the empty temple, her hair swishing occasionally, her fingernails on the tile. I didn't want to say anything more because it'd be too much effort trying to explain Midna and the Twili and the Mirror and I just wanted to sleep. She should see by now anyway; her dress was covered in blood, apparently. Shadows didn't bleed. Shadows barely existed. Shadows-

I flinched when her hands landed on either side of my neck, her warm fingers pressed softly against the skin there. "You need to stay awake, D," the girl began matter-of-factly as something clinked metallically against the floor. "This is going to sting a little, but don't worry, I've stitched up a few horses on the ranch before."

"You- wha?" It took a couple seconds of blinking before I could focus on the pillar she'd leant my right shoulder and head against. It took the prick of the needle to understand what she was doing. That woke me up sufficiently: a stranger was kneeling behind me, probing my head with a damp cloth and a needle in the abandoned Temple of Time of the kid's future Hyrule, the one filled with death and destruction and monsters and this strange girl. This strange girl named Malon. "Hey, what are you… The fairy-"

"You're slurring your words," Malon replied softly. "Hold still; she fixed most of the cut, but there's still a little- just give me a minute. I just want to make sure-"

_This wouldn't be happening if someone hadn't hit me with a bloody shovel_. But I let her treat me like one of her injured ponies by trying my best not to fidget or flinch when she stuck me with the needle. I wasn't even sure why she had a needle in what was obviously a travelling pack, although her admission that she'd needed a fairy, most likely upon arrival here, indicated that she'd anticipated trouble. Still anticipated trouble, if the shovel to the back of the head was another clue. I also found it a little hard to believe that this girl had made it all the way from Hyrule Field, through the marketplace, and into this place without getting mauled. Fairies only healed so much; this girl didn't have a scratch on her that I could see. She sure wielded a shovel without a problem.

"So, Malon," I began, gathering my wits about me. Goddesses, I was tired. More tired than before. "How'd you get here? Why did you need a fairy?"

She paused for a second to peer at me with narrowed eyes. "Rode here. I'm lucky I found that shovel or those monsters might've gotten me."

"You fought off the monsters in the marketplace with a shovel."

"Yes." Nayru, she sounded offended again. "Don't sound so surprised. I can handle myself, Mr Talking Shadow."

"_Bleeding_ shadow," I corrected waspishly, "thanks to you."

"Hmph. All done."

I didn't move aside from raising a hand to feel the stitches; there were only a few, over the very centre of the bump on the back of my head. Gratitude didn't cross my mind. She must have hit me with the edge of the damn thing. Farore, Nayru, and Din, but shit like this just didn't happen in my Hyrule. People didn't carry around shovels, of all things. Then again, they also didn't need to fend off zombies with gardening tools. _Oh Din I hope it never comes to that. Please_. Malon unceremoniously dropped the sand-smelling cloak from Link's house into my lap, and I promptly wrapped it tightly over my shoulders. It was bulky with presently unidentifiable objects shoved into the pockets, but that didn't really matter now, not when I just wanted to be warm. The battle against sleep was quickly going downhill for me.

"Don't die on me," she told me without a hint of apology.

With a scowl I tucked my head into the nook created by the juncture of the pillar and the wall, doggedly ignoring her. I listened to her move around some more, probably gathering up the supplies she'd laid out earlier or rearranging her things or remaking the little nest of horse blankets she'd most likely been sleeping in when I startled her. Her heels sounded on the stairs to the pedestal room for a moment, then made the trip down to the main doors to check whatever lock she'd implemented. I was half-asleep by the time she decided to lay down – and surprise me by resting her back perpendicular to mine. Stupid girl. Scared girl. She surprised me again when she whispered brokenly into the darkness, "Where are you Link? …Where are you?"


	8. if we open one eye

"GET _OUT_!"

"Shut up," I growled, and unthinkingly pressed my face more fully against the icy stone. Jerking away from the pillar at the temperature change, I took a second to recall my surroundings: Temple of Time, future, someone screaming something – was that a draught? I scrambled to my feet in time to see Malon trip on the tattered red carpet leading to the altar… and immediately set upon by one of the redeads pouring through the open door. She just had to open the door. For Farore's sake-

"Hey!" Screaming wildly at the faceless monsters, I sprinted at them with sword flailing, just as Malon beat at them with her trusty shovel. It drove them back, sure, but our combined efforts didn't have as much of an effect as I'd hoped for: these monsters were bold after living unchallenged for so long. In a situation like this though, my stupid sword-waving and her shovel-bashing would have to do in the absence of the kid's ocarina – and pointedly, the kid himself. I skidded to a clumsy stop before the doors and helped her force them shut by slamming my shoulder against the heavy wood and jamming my sheath through the iron handles. That would keep them out for the time being. Except, now that they knew we were in here, they'd probably try to find another way in and goddesses only knew how long that would take. I didn't want to find out. Grabbing Malon by the arm, I dragged her back towards her mess of blankets.

"Could you get any more idiotic?" I demanded angrily, panting slightly. "Why the hell did you open the door?"

"There was a…" Malon blinked at me for a second, blank as a new sheet of parchment. Then she shook her head and plucked my hand from her arm, hands on her hips.  
"There was a woman outside. I had to open the door and see if she was okay." Right, a visitor. To make matters worse, she had so little colour in her face I was afraid she'd pitch forward and faint. Unconscious girl was bad. Not only that, but if she was right about our having company…. I tossed one of her handkerchiefs at her for the negligible blood smeared over the shallow bite marks on her neck.

"Are you sure you weren't hearing things?"

The rest of her usual ornery spirit lit her eyes, prompting me to groan. Whatever she heard, she wasn't making it up, even though it didn't sound right: no one lived in the heart of the city anymore with all the monsters wandering around unchecked. Sure, the kid and I had seen some scroungers and a few squatters on the outskirts by the wall, but the marketplace was utterly overrun. The only way Malon could've heard someone was if she'd been followed, and I hoped to Din I wasn't about to find a vulnerable woman begging for shelter when I poked my head outside. And I would have to poke my head outside. Although she came across as less than believable, I was obligated to take a look anyway just to make sure someone wasn't about to die on the other side of the door. The last thing we needed around here was another corpse. Malon was right.

When the sheath stopped rattling for a while, I carefully removed it but waited a beat before pulling the door ajar. Malon unhelpfully piped, "Be careful," from her spot on the floor, which I ignored. After the initial jolt over imagined shapes, all I saw in the small courtyard were the unruly hedges on the borders, and through the bald patches, the redeads looking for prey in the main square. To the east, I saw the first vestiges of dawn turning the sky iron-grey. I even stepped onto the cobbles to check out the immediate area: a scraggly tree or two, some unkempt flowers, flaming red hair and scimitars-

As always, I was too slow to dodge.

"I'll give you one chance, boy," purred the voice in my ear. Her scimitar scraped suggestively against my neck and I didn't dare swallow. "I'll give you one chance to give me that sword." And just like that, the Gerudo released me slowly and expectantly, retreating just enough for the tip of her blade to rest in the crook of my right shoulder. Her hand was probably extended, too, in anticipation of receiving the Master Sword.

_Sorry to disappoint_.

I exhaled. "No. Chance." And then I ducked, wincing from the shallow nick as she tried to amputate my arm, and rolled away, reaching the temple's doors just in time to shut them in the tanned face of a golden-eyed, white-robed, bloody _furious_ Gerudo. Back against the heavy wood, I felt her pound against it angrily – but only once. Almost as soon as her hands touched the door the second time, they fell away and it was quiet except for the birdsong, though even that sounded ridiculously sinister now. I couldn't catch my breath. Goddesses only knew how long that woman had been watching us; hell, she could've waltzed right in here while I was sleeping and slit both of our throats and seized the sword, because I bet anything that the stupid magic only held as long as its castor was still alive. I would literally die before I gave up the damn thing. And if there was a whole group of Gerudo here, well… well, that didn't exactly bode well for us. Or Malon. _Oh Farore give me strength_.

Malon picked up on the panic. She wasn't stupid, I'd give her that. Joining me at the far end of the temple, she clapped the handkerchief on my shoulder while I worked my sheath back through the handles. "I told you. Did you see her?"

"Oh, yeah, I saw her all right." Definitely saw her. Our escape options were dwindling and Farore, Nayru, and _Din_, but how the hell did I get myself into a situation like this? I began walking the perimeter, evaluating everything distractedly; Malon took it upon herself to follow me. "It was a Gerudo," I ground out. "You know, one of those warrior-women from the desert?" She gave me an empty look. At least she had the decency to look scared, though. "Look," I told her flatly, "we need to get out of here. Soon, before they try to get in. This is bad."

Just _how_ bad, I couldn't begin to explain because I had no clue. Gerudo were a massive problem, but Gerudo who knew I had the Master Sword and were actively seeking it, that was colossal. The kid had that silly tattoo on his wrist that granted him some respect but I had nothing of the sort to bargain a little leeway. I was also still reeling a little from the stupid time-travel bit, and while I felt less drained, magically speaking, than previous adventures through time, this was going to be a challenge, especially with the kid's psycho girlfriend as a definite liability. I almost wished I could, but leaving her to fend for herself just wasn't an option if I valued my life.

"I _can't_ leave-" She moved to block my path, straightened to her full height so that she stood eye-to-nose with me, the most menacing look on her face made all the more disconcerting by her blanched skin. "I'm waiting for Link!"

The doors buckled with a tremendous creak. This argument was not happening.

Without thinking, I shouted back at her, "Link isn't coming!"

In an instant her expression collapsed. _That wasn't harsh at all_. But it was mostly true. As long as the sword was strapped to my back, Link wasn't going anywhere in this timeline. Before I could say anything else to earn her cooperation though, Malon did the work for me: "He's dead," she whispered. "Oh my goddesses that's why you're here alone. He-he's dead."

I was going to correct her, honestly. The words were in my mouth, ready to refute that conclusion – and then the white-clad woman burst through the door with a swarm of pink silk at her heels, I snatched at Malon who seized her pack and her shovel in terror, and just as the Gerudo reached the midway point, I warped us out.

x

We reappeared in a negligible clearing beneath a clump of thistles in the heart of the little copse, just outside the walls of Castletown. I could feel a light misting reach us through the dying leaves and the intertwined branches overhead, but for the most part I was pretty pleased at the relative peace-

Malon screamed.

It wasn't a soft cry, either; no, she screamed bloody murder like a freaking banshee at the worst possible time in the worst possible place. "Hush!" I grabbed her mouth and roughly pressed a palm against the lower half of her face, desperately trying to shake the haziness from my thoughts. I was only slightly disoriented, but with her screeching through my fingers and trying to roll around in the brush, any hopes of convalescing for even a moment were shot to hell. "Will you cut that out! You're going to get us killed!"

She stopped moving instantly, rigid under me, that terror from the temple still in her eyes. Then, to her credit, she shook some sense back into her head and scrambled upright, shovel at the ready. "I-I'm sorry, I just… wasn't expecting that! You-you really are-"

"Part shadow," I snapped. "I know. Now be quiet. I need to think."

"Don't you shush me," she bit back indignantly. "Would it kill you to ask for some help?" Dumbfounded, I just stared as she scurried up the nearest tree and vanished into the boughs overhead. A minute or two went by before she whisper-shouted, "Catch me!" Luckily for Malon, my reflexes were working at a slightly faster speed than my mental processing capabilities. She dropped out of the tree not even a second later like a bag of bricks, and I just barely managed to break her fall – she was a hell of a lot heavier than her twiggy frame let on. Cursing softly, I let her down none-too-gently, still a little shell-shocked at whatever had just happened, but she just grinned humourlessly and straightened her dress. "I _can_ handle myself, you know," she quipped as she collected her shovel.

"Thanks for the demonstration," I replied dryly. "What'd you see?"

Malon shrugged it off just to get a rise out of me. Goddesses, this girl was more observant than I gave her credit for. "That it'll be dawn soon, and Castletown's on fire as usual." She pointed in the general direction. "There are riders headed across the Field, probably looking for us. For a magic shadow, you didn't take us very far from the gate."

I scowled. "Beggars can't be choosers."

"I'm just kidding with you," she almost laughed with a wave of her hand. "I know it took a lot out of you."

"I never said that," I growled.

Fixing me with a cool stare, she waved dismissively again. "Didn't have to. You just look like death incarnate, that's- What was that?"

_Bloody hell. You have got to be kidding me_.

Where had that rustling come from? Frozen beneath the copse of trees, we listened intently, hardly daring to breathe, when something came snickering and zooming out of the underbrush, slashing right through the meagre protection offered by the thistles. Shoving Malon into the nearest pile of bushes, I drew my sword just in time for it to clash against twin scimitars – and just in time for me to get a glimpse of laughing yellow eyes above a square of silk.

"Give it to me," hissed the face.

I shoved back on the locked swords, sending the woman skittering away, only to have her bashed squarely over the head with the flat of the shovel. She didn't get up. Malon looked to me in something like alarm. "RUN!" I shouted. "_Now_!"

"Epona's on her way!" she shrieked back, and clutched her shovel even tighter. Before I could say anything else, she'd shoved her back against mine. "Epona's coming to get us- I know a place-"

A second Gerudo slammed a fist into Malon's face and the girl decked. I didn't even have time to bring up my sword before our attacker flashed blood-smeared fingertips at me while I clutched at my face.

"Give me the sword!" she howled.

"You just tried to claw my eye out!"

"GIVE ME THE SWORD!" And she swooped in again with those talons of hers, forcing me to roll out of the way and all but gut her with my sword. The woman made a horrid cat-screech into the night, her bloody hands clutching at the gaping hole in her midriff, while I stared in horror at the wound I'd inflicted. After killing countless monsters without faces, without familiar forms, without sentient thought, I hesitated now, with a dying woman at the other end of my bloodied blade. Then another horrifying thought crashed into me, because she had bright red hair, illuminated by the sudden spark of flames hurtling towards me-

"DIN!"

I felt the heat licking at my clothes before I saw it: a third wildly screeching woman sprinting through the darkness, launching herself at me with fire twirling off the tips of her swords. The first scimitar cut through my left gauntlet, and the other I fended off with a clumsy blow, but the move cost me my balance and I tumbled backwards, sprawling gracelessly across the hard ground and knocking the wind from my lungs. The world flickered and seemingly shifted into slow-motion despite the cacophony of sounds assaulting my ears. Then, in response to an agonising shock, I jerked back into full consciousness to find myself lying on my stomach with the same crazy woman-assassin gripping the magic-locked sheath strapped to my back. She was screaming from the contact too, but it didn't keep her from trying to yank it off my shoulder. Twisting around so that I took the entire brunt of the conflicting energies, I kicked her square in the chest, sending her into the nearest tree. The force and intensity of the magic left me breathless and panting on my hands and knees for a full minute before the woman tried to decapitate me. I didn't think I could move – my limbs felt locked and leaden, and I wanted to just collapse against the damp earth to sleep it all away. Was this a bad dream? If I shut my eyes, would she vanish into thin air? Goddesses I hoped so. I shut my eyes.

The shrieking didn't stop. I put out a hand and felt the way her scimitars clattered against my hilt. Nausea hovered somewhere at the back of my throat… head spun…. I was on my knees, and could feel the other woman's presence behind me, her swords' movement, knew that if I didn't move _now_ I'd be dead and the Master Sword lost. They would take the sword and hide it seven years in the future, where the kid could never ever retrieve it.

I ducked and fell backwards, right into the woman's legs, effectively knocking her body forward, and knocking her out by forcing my knee into her face. Shoving her stunned body away, I staggered to my feet and fell down again, head spinning, thoughts foggy, barely conscious and still feeling the phantom movement of dissipated magic. I knew a knee to the face wouldn't take her out entirely – I could hear her moving, hissing – but I couldn't move, just breathe, and even that was getting difficult. My head felt ready to explode; was I bleeding again?

Something rustled. I assumed the Gerudo had finally regained her bearings and risen to her feet, scimitar in hand, ready to bring it down across my neck... Was I really about to ruin everything… and for what? The something rustled closer and I made a colossal effort to get up and stab it through the face, but my hands refused to work. It would turn out like this: me, coming so far just to end it here, with no hope for-

"Hey. Stay still." Malon took the sword out of my hands before I could protest and, with hardly a hitched breath, brought the flat of the blade crashing down over the top of the woman's head. The Gerudo immediately slumped over. _At least her shovel-wielding skills came in handy_. "And stay down," she hissed to the unconscious woman, then to me, "Grab my waist." Her hands curled around my shoulders and I grasped her arm, using her to pull myself up until I suddenly couldn't do anymore.

"Malon," I gasped. "Malon, I'm going to dissolve. I'm going to dissolve into your shadow." _I need to think. I can't think up here. I can't think-_

"You're going to what?"

Shaking my head and already dematerialising in her hands, I sank into the patch of black with her signature all over it. "I'm here, in your shadow."

Her voice trembled as she clutched grass. "Are you… sure you're there?"

"Yes."

She paused for a second, then moved towards an agitated Epona. _Took your own sweet time getting here, you stupid mare_. "There's a healing spring nearby, hidden at the base of the cliffs."

Grunting something unintelligible, she wheeled the horse around and set off in the direction of the castle. Not my first choice when it came to picking an escape route after being attacked by Gerudo stationed _in_ Castletown… but hey, I wasn't about to argue if fairies were involved. My knee throbbed, my head wanted to roll off my shoulders, my left arm might have been cut into shiny little ribbons, and I might have a pretty little stab wound below my ribs. I freaking hated this Hyrule. At least I wasn't ambushed like this at home, and even when I was, I had Link or Midna there to help, and not some shovel-wielding farm girl. Farore, Nayru, and _Din_, but if I died because of her, I had my sights set on her ranch as prime haunting grounds. What was worse, I highly doubted that the Gerudo would simply forget about us, and I actually felt dirty and responsible for Malon's inevitable shift to target. Oh goddesses, I hadn't even asked if she was injured.

"Are you all right?"

I got a bitter laugh for my trouble, followed by a very, very enraged, "Aside from getting sucker-punched, you mean?"

"_Are you all right?_"

"I- Yes," she admitted, but the anger behind her words had faded to fear. "Yes, Epona protected me from the other one. But the Gerudo, she was going to kill you if I didn't do something. You were going to die... for me."

_Goddesses, what the hell is she on about?_ With a tremendous effort, I managed to reappear as a transient blob without any real form; I just couldn't concentrate enough to summon the strength. I looked her dead in the eye and was about to tell her that no, I hadn't been about to martyr myself for her sake, when it occurred to me that it might just be easier letting her believe that, the same way it was easier to let her think Link was dead. If we were lucky at all, she might learn a thing or two from this. Learn what exactly, I wasn't entirely sure yet. But it would be valuable, no doubt. These things always were. Without saying anything to her I dissolved again and she kept riding, even mumbling a breathless, rattled, "Thank you," which I almost corrected with a tart reply. Almost. Instead, I fell into a hazy stupor.

Sometime later she slid from the saddle and stumbled towards a tiny crevice at the base of the towering cliffs that traced the western border of the Field, and into which part of Castletown had been built. I shifted shadows until I could materialise into a transient form beside her, just before the apparent entrance.

"I can't fit in there anymore," she panted with a nervous glance back at Epona, who was pawing the ground impatiently. "I was here once as a child, when I tried to find my way back to the ranch the day my father disappeared. The opening's too small, but you can... you're a shadow. Go on."

Shaking my head, I allowed my hand to solidify and grasp her upper arm. "I can't leave you out here-" And then we were through, into a tiny pocket of dim light and warmth, surrounded on all sides by smooth, iridescent rock. The ceiling was so low she had to duck as she approached the faintly glowing water bubbling up through the floor of the cave, into a tiny pool. The fairies fluttering over the surface instantly sensed her distress from the shoddy shadow-transport and repaired any damage incurred by my antics and the attack. I solidified in full nearby, waited quietly for a few of the glowing spheres to notice my presence as well. It was dark and warm and cramped in this sanctuary, but I wasn't about to protest; beggars couldn't be choosers, especially if they were severely injured.

"You... you said you're part sh-shadow. What does that mean?" Malon asked, obviously shaken. Her face was chalk-white and moonlike in the darkness, her eyes huge and wet and shining; twigs and leaves were tangled in her mussed hair.

I grinned half-heartedly as the fairies worked their magic, but found myself unable to answer, unsure of what to tell her since I still felt too jittery to concentrate. Brilliant, really. Patiently, I let the magic seep in and do its job, and when I finally felt like I had a handle on things again, I shrugged. "It's kind of a long story, but I'm part Twili."

She sat down at the edge of the pool, on a flat dry stone so her clothes wouldn't get any damper. "So you aren't from here then."

"Nope." I reached a hand behind me to probe the back part of my skull, felt a distinct lack of stitches, and satisfied, set about capturing a few fairies in a couple glass bottles that I pulled from my belt. "But like I said, it's a long story, and I'd put you in even more danger if I told you the details."

"_You_ would have died if I hadn't been there."

"Point taken." Then I added, "But you also hit me with a shovel and opened the door to the Gerudo."

"I thought someone needed help!" She grimaced a little, but it turned into a shy, pale smile. "You're not so bad."

I gave her my best smile in return, clapping my hands together with mock-enthusiasm. The bone-tiredness still nagged at my limbs and stiffened my joints uncomfortably; a part of me also knew that healing magic only went so far, and the worse aspects of the wounds I'd received – including the slashes in my favourite tunic – lingered and were up to me to fix the old-fashioned way. Additionally, I could barely function from the exhaustion in the wake of so much adrenaline, and magic-wise… well, I wouldn't be warping for a long while yet. I'd have to part company from this girl soon, before I really did end up dying in her defence.

Malon handed me the sandy cloak from her bag, and I laid the heavy fabric on the rough floor and cleared away the small pebbles. "We'll stay here 'til nightfall."

Presumptuously, she tucked herself against me and dragged the hem around her body, snuggling in for the long haul. I rolled my eyes, or started to, when she surprised me by murmuring, "I see why Link is friends with you."

"He's gone, Malon."

"No, he isn't," she replied resolutely. I could hear the smile in her words. "He would never just give up in the middle of such an important quest. Besides, I'd know it if he were really dead. You surprised me for a minute, but I don't believe you. You're just trying to protect him by telling me he's dead."

_Let's hope you're right._ I shut my eyes, about to let her words just hang in the silence, but thought better of it when something else struck me. Turning over just enough to see her face, I squinted at her in the dim light cast by the fairies. "Malon… you have enormous faith in him."

"He's never broken a promise to me," she murmured back, still smiling. This time though, I heard the drowsiness in her blurred speech. "He's a good person, D… just like you or me."

Obnoxious as ever, I grinned. "Ooh, have I been promoted?"

But she only scoffed back, "Go to sleep, Mr Shadow," and as tired as I was, I wouldn't argue with that.


	9. to find you there

She was clever, I'd give her that. In fact, she and Midna would get on beautifully if they ever met. The world might also implode at that meeting. But hey, that was why she shattered the Mirror, right? No Sheikah in their right mind would open a door between those two, so no harm there. No, the more immediate problem was the tight little corner Malon had backed me into… quite neatly, too. And it all started with an innocent scone. Sort of.

"You would have breakfast in there," I muttered not ungratefully as she handed me a stale scone from her satchel. I was vaguely surprised that she still had the bag, but I didn't particularly mind, especially when it apparently held food. Food was good after a night of gallivanting through a dark field with angry warrior women on your heels. "Too bad you don't have your shovel or-"

"Quit mocking me, you red-eyed creep."

Someone was a little sore, but over what, I wasn't entirely sure. I took a minute or two to chew quietly on the scone before even bothering to formulate a response; Malon just glared balefully at me the entire time as if I'd singlehandedly turned eating into the most offensive thing she'd ever witnessed. "You do understand that I'm not resentful over being alive, right? All thanks to the Farm Girl Wonder," I added somewhat to myself, taking another bite of the stiff bread. That little comment earned me a hard rap to the back of my head. Not wholly undeserved. But this was exactly how gingers got a bad reputation. "Malon, I really don't mean that in a… mocking way. Honest."

"Not on the surface, no," she sniffed. Turning away and moving behind a dense crowd of stalagmites, I heard considerable rustling and a few grunts of frustration until she reappeared a moment later wearing dusty riding clothes. From the way the crisp white linen fell over her narrow shoulders, I could instantly tell that it was a man's shirt. The worn riding pants were also too big, judging by the way the brown fabric bunched around her waist under the belt and at the tops of her boots. She had her dress and apron slung over an arm, and a telling I-dare-you-to-say-something look cemented on her face.

Occasionally, I really enjoyed pressing my luck. Like now. "All dressed up and nowhere to go."

Malon set her jaw before the second half of my sentence even left my mouth. "I'm not your responsibility, you know. We just ran into each other in the Temple of Time." Hands on hips, she stared me down for a second before attending to her bag of tricks, stuffing her clothes inside. "I'm headed to Kakariko. You can tell Link he can find me there to apologise."

Okay, then. That solved the problem of having a tagalong. Regardless of her claims, she technically _was_ my responsibility: if the kid ever found out about our little escapade in the Field, it would not end well and I'd end up breaking my promise to Zelda. I actually had the best job in the world, returning the most dangerous weapon in the history of Hyrule to a pint-sized psycho with a chip on his shoulder. Lucky me. But Malon was making it her mission to smash my perspective wide open, which wasn't exactly unwelcome. In a way, she was right about the extent of our relationship, since we only met by chance. No one could've predicted that whole encounter because who the hell even dreamt it was _possible_ for an accidental Twili-Hylian hybrid to fall out of an old doorway at the heart of an ancient temple, a century before said hybrid's _birth_? It all had such a surreal quality to it, I probably wouldn't ever wrap my head around it and I was the one living it. Some things you just weren't meant to understand, though. Sometimes. Zelda's letter seemingly burnt a hole through the cloak's inner pocket but I shook the feeling off to appraise the slight redheaded girl calmly organising her pack beside the spring.

Din, but how did shit like this _happen_?

"I can do that. But Malon-" I grasped her upper arm to get her attention, pulling her upright again so we stood eye-to-nose. "I… Why? Why Kakariko? Why Castletown?"

"He said he'd be there," she reminded me with a huff. However, she refused to break the intense staring contest and I was… grateful. Sort of.

"That's true, but why do you believe him? Because he's the Hero of Time? Is that it?"

She actually baulked. "You think… I trust him because of some shiny triangle _bestowed_ upon him by Farore herself?" demanded Malon with more than a little spite and a hint of condescension. Ouch. It did sound kind of stupid when she put it that way, but it only took some rearranging and a little rewording to make anything to sound dumb. She shook free of my hand with an angry jerk of her body. "He's a Hero, sure, but he's also a person, and my best friend."

"Okay, but-"

"No!" she interrupted, still with that blazing anger. "No, I don't think you understand, and it's- you can't travel around with Link and _not_ understand- Some things only Heroes can do, like how Link's going to kill Ganondorf and bring peace back to Hyrule. Other stuff, the everyday stuff, he can manage too- _People_ can manage it, and we're all people-" She fixed me with the most imploring expression I'd ever seen, just to lend her point that perfect emphasis as the righteous indignation faded from her eyes. The words were spilling from her mouth and jumbling together in her haste and fervour. "The everyday stuff, I can manage, like keeping a promise, or helping the villagers protect themselves from the Gerudo. Link will find me there." I opened my mouth to reply, but Malon simply grinned humourlessly, "Besides, can you imagine if everyone needed a stupid magic triangle so other people would believe in them?"

"It'd…" There it was, the smashing my perspective thing. Maybe it was because Midna had recruited me using the legacy of the hero as the backdrop to the entire adventure. Maybe it was because I'd grown up listening to Colin comfort Ilia whenever she brought up how she'd _seen_ the divine mark on the back of his hand, how he _couldn't_ be dead. Maybe it was just so ingrained in my head, the _Link equals Divine Hero_ idea, that I wasn't capable of thinking of it in any other way. In my time, this was the stuff of legend, right up there with how the very first Link and Zelda found the Triforce and descended to Hyrule with the sky-people. And it was true, what my Zelda said to me: it'd seemed strange at the time, but I really _didn't_ think of Link as mortal. I might have seen the Triforce a handful of times, and yet I automatically had it in my head that Link and Zelda were above people like me and Midna… and Malon. It wasn't until I met the kid that the idea shifted entirely, to the point where I treated him like a little brother, with a stupid, perpetual incredulous attitude towards his destiny. Goddesses, but that was messed up. I shook my head, taking a step back. "I see why the kid likes you."

She had a touch of laughter in her eyes this time when she smiled. "Knew you'd see the light."

"I'm only half-shadow," I quipped back at her with a grin of my own. Pulling the cloak up from the floor, I fastened it around my neck, all the while patting absently at the pockets. "I'll go with you to Kakariko. Carry on the kid's chivalrous… attitude, in his stead. Least I can do, since you saved my life."

That didn't seem to bother her as much as I thought it would. "If it makes you feel better," she shrugged, "but I can get on fine without you."

"I'm sure. Let's just hope the Gerudo aren't lurking outside."

Malon shrugged again, scooped up her bag, and waiting expectantly for me to pull her back through the shadows and into the Field once more. Before I attempted that transport, I bottled an extra fairy for her and checked the surrounding area quickly, but only found quiet midday sunshine and a few birds. Relatively safe. For now. Hopefully. _Oh, Nayru help me_. We emerged from the crevice together, Malon almost immediately accepting the healing fairy to ease the jitters clearly wracking-

_NOT SAFE NOT SAFE NOT SAFE!_

She shrieked. Wheeling from the impact, I staggered sideways and landed in a graceless heap, the tip of a small spear jammed in my side. The point only barely penetrated the chainmail there, but it completely knocked the wind out of me, leaving me hopelessly disoriented for entirely too long, and the unwieldy weapon attached awkwardly to my torso. I felt Malon's hands levering under my arms and pulling me up beside her as I yanked at the shaft-

Utterly opaque, acrid smoke suddenly filled the area. Blinded, I fumbled around until something like sense crashed back into my head when Malon hissed, "Let's _go_!" She must have whistled for the horse while I was down because Epona came thundering out of nowhere and Malon snatched at the reins, expertly pulled herself into the saddle, and, hand extended for me, pulled me up behind her, the stupid spear still clutched in my fist. The only coherent thought in my head was something about how lucky it was I'd left the cave first and solidified in front of Malon, or the kid would have murdered me for sure. And goddesses damn it, but if any more adrenaline entered my bloodstream, I might never be able to think straight again. I was suddenly spectacularly thankful that my temporary non-responsibility shared my farm background or the whole escape-by-mounting-a-moving-horse thing probably wouldn't have worked otherwise. I felt like laughing hysterically.

"Never thought I'd say this, but that Deku nut actually came in handy," she mumbled to me.

I grinned back. "Not my first choice of weapon either. The kid give you those?"

"To use on Ingo."

"Well I'm glad you held onto a few." I craned my neck to get a good look at our surroundings, and to risk a peek at our pursuers. From now on, I couldn't make fun of the doe-eyed mare for being useless: although the handful of mounted women were still within hailing distance, the majority of the welcoming committee had been left far behind at the fairy spring. Not bad for a borderline-idiot horse. But the riders couldn't be allowed to gain any more ground on us, if I could help it. Stringing my bow, I rearranged myself so I had a clear shot at them, nocked an arrow, and began picking them off until they broke formation and scattered. Most of them even looked like they were giving up the chase. Instead of taking that as a good sign, it made me incredibly uneasy, and I said as much. "Malon, where are you going?"

Sparing only a quick glance over her shoulder, she hesitated for a split second before nodding. "There's a trail that leads into the village from Zora's Domain, I think. Link told me about it once… it's a little before the main curve of the river, and threads along the gorge."

Trusting the kid again, for better or worse, then. Regardless, it was our best bet, and I wanted to get her a little closer to safety before I attempted to draw off the remaining Gerudo. I'd never forgive myself if they hurt her; by my count, they'd underestimated her twice already, so they weren't about to make the same mistake three times in a row. And hopefully, the sight of the Master Sword might draw them off her trail anyway. At the very least, I had to try… I'd just have to wait until we were closer to the apparent trailhead before disappearing.

"To the river, then," I finally declared.

x

The goddesses-damned Gerudo were getting closer. She jerked her head forward and leant down against Epona's mane, urging the horse onward at an even faster gallop while I haphazardly covered her, sniping at the riders in our wake if they got too close. We were almost there: half a league, and we'd make the gorge, and the overgrown trail so obviously snaking up the steep wall ahead. It looked like pockets of rock had been blasted out of the face, revealing a kind of half-tunnel, half-open path from the river's shore to the heights that marked the village. Malon wouldn't have any trouble staying on route if we could just make it there. It was only a matter of time now. But I also knew without a doubt that the Gerudo were waiting for us to stop.

Well, waiting for _me_ – or, more specifically, for the Master Sword – to stop. Compared to it, we were generally irrelevant. Small change, as the Gerudo had already demonstrated: Malon was just collateral damage, and I needed to die unless I willingly dissipated the spell protecting the sword and sheath. The fact that Malon had only been suckerpunched rather than gutted like a fish was pretty compelling, and I was willing to bet that if we split up now, she had a solid chance of reaching Kakariko in one piece, without a tail of desert warrior-women. They struck me as purposeful, not given to wanton destruction; they'd follow the sword almost certainly. On the other hand, if I stayed and Epona suddenly kicked the bucket, we'd be screwed and Link would make it his mission to revive me just to kill me. Challenging walk back to Castletown it was, then.

"You can take it from here, yeah?"

She looked at me with a tiny spark of panic in her eyes, but it quickly dissipated. Brave girl. "I can take care of myself, creep," she retorted, mock-offended. "Make sure you tell Link he owes me an apology."

"You got it," I grinned back. Swinging my leg over the horse, I prepared myself for the rough landing, sharing one last glance with the redhead. Her face was set with dogged determination, and something like respect under the pallor… or it might have been my ego speaking. Couldn't be sure. In the short time we'd spent together, Malon had managed to make me incredibly self-conscious whenever I considered other people. And they were other people. A little object permanence was in order. _Wax existential later_. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the riders rapidly closing the distance as if in anticipation of my grand dismount, and without further ado, I handed her the spear and rolled off the horse, Malon's startled expression hovering strangely in front of me until she whipped around and tucked herself against the horse once more.

Almost immediately, the hoofbeats switched sharply to a faster tempo as the lead rider abruptly wheeled her horse around towards me, the others changing course accordingly. My chances weren't the best, but in a situation like this, running wouldn't really get me anywhere. One guy on foot versus six mounted Gerudo? Right. I drew my bow again, levelled it, and sniped the closest Gerudo out of her saddle just as she raised her sword to take off my head. She tumbled sideways in shock, the arrow having severed something in the arm holding the reins and rendered it nerveless; still with the momentum of the shot, I reached out and copied Malon's earlier manoeuvre and swung up into the strange, minimalist saddle, spurring the horse like a madman. If I could just draw them out, one by one….

_Link, let's be real here_.

Angling the horse towards Castletown, I leant back and fired several more arrows, catching one of the other riders in the throat. Two down, four to go. The leader was not pleased, but she hung back, refusing to move within range. For a minute or two, the horse thundering along under me, I actually believed I'd ride all the way to town without incident, just like the journey from the spring to the gorge. I really truly believed it was going to be easy, getting back to the Temple of Time. That was about when a scimitar came hurtling out of nowhere, slicing into the horse's flank and mortally crippling it. We went down in a jumble of limbs. Shrieking and kicking, the animal twisted and flopped pitifully, almost suffocating me when it at least bruised my ribs as its body skidded to a jerking stop in the thinning grass. I dissolved out from underneath just in time to duck another scimitar, this one held stationary in a hand rather than tossed through the air like an awkward, oversized throwing knife. Clutching my side, I stared in disbelief at the women rushing back towards me.

"You have got to be kidding me."

The wielder screamed unintelligibly as she went by, the blade unexpectedly finding no resistance as it passed through the almost-opaque shadow standing stock still and bewildered at the attack. She reined up hard and attempted to tackle me, but she fell right through thanks to the marvellous skill of transience. Mind inconveniently devoid of ideas, I shot her at close-quarters with the arrow still nocked on my bow and she lay still, the shaft protruding grotesquely from her right eye socket, the blood dripping from the wound in neat ribbons. The bruising to my side kept me from firing at full force, but it was still enough to kill the woman with so little distance between us. Sensing someone's gaze, I looked up, a little dazed, to find the leader.

"Give me the sword, boy." She'd ventured closer, noticing the way I'd curled in on myself, the bow suddenly next useless in my grasp. This wasn't the same authoritative woman in white from the Temple of Time, but I could instantly tell that whoever she was, this Gerudo held some sort of position. Sliding gracefully from her mount, she slowly drew a gilded scimitar and aimed the curved tip at me. "Make it easier on yourself."

It was suicidal, but there was nothing else for it: I drew my own sword and shook my head. The only plus side here was that out of honour, others wouldn't interfere in another's fight. "Can't, sorry." _Goddesses, what I wouldn't give for a spark of magic right now_.

When she launched herself at me, I played up transience as much as I could while deflecting the slower, heavier blows with my hilt. She knew my game, though. After I fended off another slash, flames suddenly sprouted from her blade and singed my hands before I could dodge – these were no ordinary flames… they were Din's Fire, and Din's Fire didn't give a damn over whether or not I was a shadow when it struck me – instead, it burnt like hell. I'd discovered this before during my previous time here, when Link had had enough of my antics and threatened to burn me alive at the stake. Obviously, I'd thought he was full of it, so I'd taunted him some more, and earned myself some pretty third-degree burns, as well as the knowledge that comes with such an experience. She knew my game, and it scared me.

The next time she charged at me with sword aflame, I stupidly held my ground. At the very last second, I ducked and lunched forward, passing through her as a shadow in an encore of a certain detestable attack I last used in Hyrule Castle, much to Midna's disgust. The woman didn't move again, but her seconds rushed in to finish her work, swinging at me with perfectly synchronised, perpendicular slices. For whatever reason, neither of them conjured Din's Fire, and I began to suspect that only some of the women had the ability to use magic like that; consequently, tired and desperate, I simply dissolved. Both had dismounted, so I flitted over to the horses, lamed two of them, and stole the third, galloping hard for Castletown before the two Gerudo realised what was happening.

Even with the threat mostly neutralised, I couldn't risk checking to make sure Malon had made it safely to the trailhad, though I strongly suspected that she had, based mainly on the Gerudo's response to our division. I simply had to trust the situation and believe everything had actually gone right because this wasn't a job for me. Right now, I didn't care what Malon thought about normal people and divine right and Triforces, because I needed to return the sword to Link before anything else happened. Maybe it was true that no one was really capable of singlehanded miracles, but it was certainly true that some were better equipped, and I was not among that number. And Farore have mercy, but did I really have to get squashed by a _horse_?


	10. here it goes again

"Shit," I gasped, and, ignoring the stinging pain in my shoulder, I dove desperately for the next pool of shadows. _This is way more of a problem than originally thought. _By some hellish miracle, the Gerudo somehow anticipated everything. _Everything._ Meaning, they had taken Castletown and turned it into a massive trap for the sole purpose of catching _me_, because I was willing to bet my hat that every magic-wielding Gerudo that had ever lived was in the area. It was midday, so that significantly limited the number of hiding places, since a shadow moving across the courtyard of its own accord was more than a little conspicuous. Almost every patch of shadow was routinely hit with arrows or spears lit with Din's Fire, or guarded by a woman with a fistful of the spell twirling around her fingertips.

That wasn't the half of it, either. Aside from the Gerudo, there were also redeads wandering the square in such a way that I was sure that the Gerudo had somehow found a way to shepherd them. Also, any time I solidified, someone grabbed the sheath and shocked the hell out of both of us. Masochistic sadists, the lot of them. But I knew that if I could just get inside the temple, I'd be okay and in the clear and wonderfully, beautifully safe – or at least, one could hope. In reality, they'd probably taken over the place, as my last moments inside had indicated. I just had to hold it together until the pedestal, though. If I could just get the sword in the pedestal, all would be well and I'd happily be seven years in the past.

_You should just run for it_. I didn't have the energy to take care of the next lot; I'd been using some of the Redeads for cover, but it was becoming painfully obvious that I just couldn't fend off another attack. It also didn't help that the cacophonous buzz of, "The sword… He's here…" pressed in from all sides. Farore, Nayru, and Din, but I _knew_ I had the goddesses-damned sword. I did not need to be reminded of it – after being attacked repeatedly, I damn well knew I had something they wanted, and would stop at nothing to get. Because of their determination, the panic in my chest kept knotting itself tighter and tighter until I could feel it in my throat. The magic seal on the sword wouldn't save it if they incapacitated me, and goddesses only knew how close they had come to achieving that particular goal.

Besides the incessant muttering, I heard the occasional exclamation in a language I didn't understand; whenever I moved, it felt like I was moving through deep water, the same sensation I had the first time Midna turned me into a shadow. Noise closed in on all sides in a confusing jumble, probably as a combination of pain and fear. Fear. _Link wouldn't have gotten himself into such a horrible situation_, a voice reminded me obnoxiously. But I couldn't concentrate with all the black dots popping in front of my eyes. How the hell had they known how to catch me? My thoughts kept scattering and I knew for a fact that loitering forever in a puddle of darkness cast by a reanimated corpse and waiting for the Gerudo to look the other way wouldn't do me any good. I had to run for it, even if I ended up with more holes than Hyrule Castle or as the next available energy source for a settlement on Snowpeak.

I would have cursed, but I didn't see the point.

Suddenly, someone shrieked above me and I exploded out of the shadows, twisting sideways into another pool, just barely missing the flaming tip of what looked like a halberd. They had bundled dead grass and tinder right underneath the point, and set it all alight with what I assumed was Din's Fire since I didn't want to stick around to find out. I lashed out with the flat of my blade and struck the Gerudo soundly across the face, but that only garnered a split second of respite. From out of nowhere a second one charged at me, this time catching me in the side with a freaking scimitar. I took the legs out from under her with a clumsy kick and, after scrambling onto my hands and knees, I tried making a dash for the stairs that led to the temple- And it irked me. It was a square courtyard about twice the length of Zelda's throne room, but with a large fountain in the middle. Cobbled and broken by the occasional hedge, the empty space mocked me; it shouldn't have taken me so long to navigate such a short distance, from the portcullis, through the square, and to the once-manicured path that led directly to the Temple of Time.

Up ahead, I could see two Redeads standing between me and the sanctuary of the Temple of Time – and without thinking properly, I switched to transience and ploughed right through them, and through the doors, and collapsed face first on the cool tiles just inside the doors. I knew I was making a mess with the blood I was inadvertently smearing all over the floor, but who was going to stop and admonish me? I'd just been stuck with an inhumane number of sharp objects, electrocuted several times, and nearly immolated by a veritable _mob_. If there were anyone I could complain to, I'd first field the question, "Why the _hell _are mentally unstable beings allowed access to weapons and the general population?"

"This is bloody ridiculous," I muttered to myself. "This really is. I don't know how you always get into these stupid messes-" Then I staggered to my feet and made off in the general direction of that goddesses-damned pedestal, acutely aware of the ominous atmosphere. My footsteps echoed annoyingly in the stifling silence. I was still smarting a little too painfully to risk thinking that the place was empty, but everything I saw only confirmed it was just dead, empty space with the barren stone walls soaring to an unseen ceiling. Malon's nest of horse blankets was lying untouched in the same spot, too. Sighing in exasperation, I followed the narrow, threadbare red carpet to the altar that held the three Spiritual Stones, and then beyond into the octagonal sword chamber, whereupon I reached behind me to release the Master Sword… only to hear snickering in a far corner.

Actually, said corner was entirely too close for comfort.

"I suggest you hand over that sword. I'll show you a little mercy, since you made it all the way back here."

My head whipped around, I let the hilt click back into the sheath, and brandished my own beaten blade. "Hell no," I barked at the white-clad woman from before, the same that seemed to command a certain amount of respect, even from me. She stood tall, but with a lazy posture that implied authority, and donned white silk garments in lieu of the usual pink-violet. Her long red hair had been drawn up into a style reminiscent of Midna's violence-prone ponytail. _Not a good omen._ Uncertain, I took a small step back and away from the pedestal, though I kept my eyes firmly trained on her unmoving form.

"Tsk, tsk. Always one for commotion, I suppose," she grinned back at me. "You don't look a day older than when we first met..." From over her shoulder she drew a single shining scimitar, more decorated than any I'd seen before. "And you obviously still retain all of your skill..." She drew a second scimitar with all the relaxed grace of someone confident in their ability. "I respect that. But I have my own responsibilities, and they include, first and foremost, the retrieval of that sword. Your bow won't help you here."

I blinked at her, confused, but couldn't for the life of me ever recall her face, except for the courtyard and again when she burst into the temple. Never in my life had I met this woman before that, and yet she seemed to know exactly who I was. Great. Brilliant. _This just keeps getting better_. "Hate to break it to you," I replied slowly, irritated, "but you've got a really skewed sense of time." Hefting my own sword in my good hand, the one not sprained from a clumsy fall in the courtyard, I carefully tucked my right into the best defensive position I could to avoid further damage. Maybe this woman was just delusional and thought I was Link. "I think your friends outside are a little confused, too. You're supposed to shout, 'SURPRISE!'"

The Gerudo stepped closer to me and very, very obnoxiously drew her blades against one another, pretending to sharpen them. "You've got quite the tongue," she leered. "I can remedy that." And then she lunged at me with twice the speed of all the other Gerudo I'd faced, attempting to cut the sheath from me by severing the strap that ran across my chest. I leapt backwards in a panic, almost tripping over the pedestal itself when she abruptly changed direction and came after me again.

_Goddesses, what have I ever done to you?_ I heard a voice screaming in my head. _I was just trying to return the damn thing!_ That was true, too. It wasn't as if I'd planned this whole escapade and outright stolen the sword, even if this endeavour ended with the reunion of shadow and light. My landing here happened by _chance_. It wasn't fair to hold me accountable.

The Gerudo, screaming, tried to take my head off with one of her blades. I ducked, hissing at her, "Why are you doing this? How do you know me?" Maybe she'd stand still long enough to explain, like any stereotypical villain, and I could hack her to bits in the meantime.

She didn't stand still. Instead, she attacked me with a greater ferocity, all the while smiling. "Seven years is a long, long time," she began, parrying my weak thrust. "But I remember everything. Your friend proved to be pretty valuable-"

Ducking again, I felt the shock slowly spreading through my mind like ice on a lake that dragged horrible thoughts in its wake. Link couldn't be dead. Oh, Din, I did not just do all of this for nothing. "My what?"

"Don't play stupid." One of her scimitars pinned my arm against the wall, and, struggling awkwardly, I managed to free myself by catching her midriff with my boots. Growling dangerously, she scrambled to retrieve the other scimitar that had skittered out of her hands, but I melted it into a useless pile of scrap metal with a concentrated blast from a severely limited supply of magical energy. Her face whipped around to glare at me, golden eyes wide and angry in her tan face. "You have no idea who you're dealing with, demon."

"Enlighten me," I bit back at her, aiming instead for her other blade, still quivering in the wall, but she bodily tackled me to the ground and proceeded to force-feed me her fist, repeatedly. I kneed her in the back, but that only made her arch away for a split second before continuing her assault on my face, which culminated in her grasping the shoulders of my tunic, lifting me towards her to snarl, "I am Nabooru, leader of the Gerudo," and then slamming the back of my head into the very hard, very unforgiving tiles of the floor. Stars popped across my eyes amidst the black dots, enough for me to wonder if we were fighting outside at night. Something was moving above me, but I was too dazed to react.

Until she grasped the sheath.

"DIN!" she screamed, and kept screaming, but she wouldn't let go of the charmed shadow. I attempted to flip onto my back again to dislodge her hands, but she held on too tightly and I was still too disoriented from her attack to offer any real opposition. Teeth bared and snapped tightly together in jarring pain, I tried again, and again, until finally, I concentrated all the magic I had left into a single, defensive burst. Nabooru's face lit with a sickly green cast just before the surprise and fear hit her full force, along with the blast that threw her clear across the room and against the wall there. She slid down to the floor, motionless, and remained motionless for the next span of countless minutes as I tried not to give into the sparkling stars and sticky darkness. _Smooth, very smooth. Idiot._

Ignoring the voice, I staggered back to my feet and managed to approach the pedestal again, unmolested this time. Nabooru still hadn't moved from her place against the wall, but I wasn't about to wake her up and ask her to tea. By the time I realised I'd successfully reached the past again, I also realised that Link was nowhere to be seen in the immediate vicinity. Granted, there wasn't any sign of that damn Gerudo woman either, but I couldn't help think of what she'd said about Link. I hadn't actually expected him to be waiting here for me like a lost little puppy, but this did complicate things a little, as if they weren't complicated enough. For instance, I'd won my third concussion in a very short span of time; I had a useless wrist, which, despite being ambidextrous, still offered a bit of an obstacle when it came to two-handed blows; I was incredibly weak, probably from all the energy involved in maintaining the protection for the Master Sword and everything that had happened in the past few days; I had no Epona here in the past because she wasn't grown yet, Malon didn't know me yet, and Link would never let me near that ranch anyway. Essentially, I had no way of getting around. Also, I was still bleeding and-

_I guess this is where the adventure really begins._


	11. what a dream in the dark

Ren stared quietly, trying his best not to look scared. Ever since Link pointed out the way his eyebrows peaked and his lips puckered, he always worked at keeping his face blank whenever fear gnawed at him. He knew the princess was watching him, too – he could feel her gaze on him and it raised the hairs on the back of his neck and he hated it because he couldn't swallow the terror or stop the telltale twitching. _There's nothing to be scared of_.

Except there was. The glittering sword and that man's face, they were both still too real and left him a little more than nervous. Raids weren't anything new, though. Mummy had died in one when he was little, and Dad had been mortally wounded in another just a year or so ago. Uncle Talo was killed in one too, even more recently. They weren't new, but it didn't matter when the terror never really left and it always shook him to the core, like now. Oh, he wanted to believe that the danger was over and the village was safe and everything that happened in the past few hours meant that everything would go back to the way it was before. He wanted to believe that so badly. He wanted Dad to walk through the door.

And then there was Link.

After what he'd been told and what he'd assumed himself, the body in the bed elicited shockwaves almost the second he clapped eyes on it. Zelda had let him in and then she'd brushed back the hair on the forehead to show him the face and oh Nayru but it _was_ him. He hadn't been seeing things. It was real. He was real. And right now more than anything he wanted to be indifferent, but between the princess watching him from beside the hearth and his brother's terrifying appearance, it took everything in him just to keep the quiver out of his voice when he spoke.

"So it was him," he muttered softly, and Zelda hummed something in agreement. "You… you made it sound like he was gone."

"I am sorry, Renado. He has been helping a friend in a distant part of Hyrule."

Swallowing thickly, he took a tiny step closer. Under a thick cloak, Link languished on his back, lanky limbs askew, his pale face still flecked with mud and soot and a little blood. There were ghostly freckles there too, just over the bridge of his nose and Ren smiled faintly even though he knew that a horrifying red lurked under the closed lids instead of Mummy's comforting green. The face was a little narrower than he remembered, too, but it was definitely his brother's. It was definitely his brother, seemingly back from the dead, and he wasn't sure how to react. In fact, he felt sick.

"Why… Is he gonna wake up?"

Zelda smiled graciously, moving forward to place a hand on Ren's shoulder. "Yes. I have only cast a healing spell."

"Is he staying?"

The princess remained silent.

"Is he staying?" he repeated forcefully. When her hand fell away, he gnashed his teeth together and, inexplicably angry, turned to glare at her. The adults always lied to him. Always. He shouldn't have bothered coming here. "_Is he staying_?"

"He will return soon."

_That isn't an answer_, he wanted to scream, but Lieutenant Garmin was always telling him to be more respectful towards the princess and although the man wasn't here to reprimand him, Ren remained silent. Furious and indignant, but silent. By the way Zelda went about cleaning his brother's face with a damp cloth, he knew that she sensed at least some of his distress, which only served to make it so much worse. She'd told him a grand story once upon a time, about how Link had gone away to become a hero and help find the Hero of Twilight and then rescue her, the princess of Hyrule, from prison. She'd explained how a terrible spell almost turned Link into a ghost and how his friend Midna saved him by turning him into a shadow instead. She never told him how being a shadow was better than a ghost, but he'd kind of always hoped to ask Link that himself. He wanted to ask Link a lot of things. He was right here. Ren could reach out and grab his hand if he wanted to, or if he wasn't afraid of what Zelda might do or say.

_Your brother is very brave_, she'd said to him. _Your brother saved my life_.

"My brother runs away," he grumbled. The tears were gathering at the corners of his eyes again and it made him mad, so mad, because he was so powerless all of the time and goddesses it wasn't _fair_. "Link that's not fair. It's not fair." The tears were coming now, some of them escaping, and he ducked, scrubbing at his face as the fear bit at him again. Zelda made some sort of noise and he ducked, face pressed against his knees as he cried. _You big crybaby. You're too old to cry. Stop it!_ But the tears wouldn't stop. Someone was hugging him and wouldn't stop either.

"Renado, your brother is… leaving on my account."

He choked a little, struggling to breathe. It was always so hard to breathe when you cried.

"May I share a secret with you?"

She tucked his head into her neck and she was warm and soft and smelt like smoke, but he liked it. Ren shut his eyes. Effie held him this way once, after Link buried Dad. _You're too old to cry_.

"Your brother is very dear to me. I would not let him go unless I believed that he would return."

He heard that before. _Link always comes back for you_. Effie said that and she meant it, and the princess too, when she first appeared in the village. Except he hated Link for leaving and turning into a shadow monster and not telling him and leaving. He hated Link for leaving. But he didn't hate him for coming back. He didn't hate that part. He just wanted to stop being confused.

"I am leaving for Castletown in the morning," the princess said quietly.

Something buzzed in his ear, like that nagging sensation that sometimes happened whenever he wanted to remember something important. Silently, Ren extricated himself and moved to stare at the sleeping Link before striding purposefully for the door. His brother was leaving in the morning, almost certainly without saying goodbye; this would be the last time Ren would see him until he returned from wherever he was going. But it wouldn't do any use trying to talk to him now, even though he still wasn't really sure what he wanted to say because that awful sick feeling still sat heavily with him. Zelda was watching him, too. His mouth wouldn't work and the truth was building up in his ears, making a terrible roaring sound that somehow also clogged his throat.

_Everyone is leaving_.

Ren was scared.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Blink.

And just like that, it hit him: there was no one left to tell him what to do. Link was leaving in the morning, and Ren had a right to ask the princess not to mention his visit. It made sense. But it also meant that Link couldn't tell him no anymore. A long time ago, he said to stay here and be brave, but there wasn't a house anymore and the neighbours didn't trust him and sometimes he hated Ordon _so much_ for destroying his family. So many terrible things happened here… and it was time to leave. No one could tell him otherwise. For the first time, Ren really knew what he wanted to do, maybe what he'd always wanted to do; this intense driving force was new – wonderfully, powerfully new, and it made him bold. He felt taller, bigger, stronger. Turning around, he met the princess' gaze with all the determination he could muster.

"I'm going with you."


	12. she's a star tonight

"What do you mean the prisoner's gotten loose?" howled a copper-haired woman decked out in red silk. My stomach threatened to put holes in my boot soles. "What do you _mean_ he's escaped?"

_You have got to be kidding me!_ Practically growling in disbelief, I watched as the three women that made up my escort cringed, subtly attempting to sidestep their second-in-command's wrath. I had only let them capture me because I'd thought it was the most direct route to the kid – there was no way in hell I wanted to waste time trying to navigate the endlessly winding corridors, especially after inhaling half the desert on my way here. Between the sun and sand, I'd ended up dying of thirst and sweating like a Zora trapped in Death Mountain within the first few steps along the trail that descended from the broken bridge to the floor of the canyon, where the Gerudo Fortress sprawled; if I'd stayed outside any longer, I was fairly confident that I'd have just shrivelled up. Dark Link jerky. Yum. So after dragging myself the last part of the hike through the Haunted Wasteland, I'd all but marched up to one of the women guarding the front entrance of the Desert Colossus and blown a big, wet raspberry in her face. And now, two of them had a death grip on my upper arms, and the crazy leader was spraying the lot of us with spittle from her raving. _Trust the kid to wander off at the exact wrong moment._

"FIND HIM."

Around us, women scrambled to do their master's bidding, scampering down the hallway back the way we came, halberds held close to their chests and sheathed scimitars glinting in the firelight from the braziers along the sandstone walls. We continued down the narrow corridor with the copper-headed Gerudo breathing sparks down our necks. Annoyed at her presence, my only relief came in the form of the Arbiter's Grounds, ironically enough, after a curt word from Copper Head about putting me in the kid's former cell- Rounding a corner, the two holding me marched right through the room I recognised as one I'd almost died in way back when, and proceeded to drag me down a short flight of stairs to a room of sandstone cells with iron bars. There were four, one in each corner of the small room, all freestanding from one another but not from the walls. Between them burnt three braziers, and two more flanked the only exit. Copper Head directed the others in shoving me into the nearest unoccupied cell and slammed the door shut herself with a hearty creak of metal, her expression incredibly vicious.

"Later," she snarled. "You are mine."

"Sorry, but you're not my type," I quipped back at her with a nasty grin of my own.

She fumed a little, a distinct huff of rage escaping her bared teeth, before disappearing with her cronies. She might not have recognised me, but I sure as hell knew who she was – or at least, I remembered her misdeeds. I didn't know or couldn't remember her name, although that didn't particularly matter in the scheme of things. What did matter was that she'd been the one to find the kid loitering in the foyer. This crazy Gerudo had one of those silk masks on at the time, and her clothes had definitely been a different colour, but I'd know that voice and attitude anywhere; she'd told the kid about some fancy pair of gauntlets hidden deep within the fortress, and that he could have them if he solved the puzzles in the rooms preceding the treasure. He'd taken the bait in a heartbeat, and before I could talk him out of the stupid endeavour, he'd stepped through a doorway revealed by the woman and off we'd gone to get ourselves charbroiled at no extra charge. Afterwards, there simply hadn't been time to explain that the misadventure had been an assassination attempt. There hadn't been any motivation either. He wouldn't have believed me in a million years.

The second she left the room, I dissolved through the bars and unsheathed my sword wearily, irritation burning a hole through my chest. _When I get my hands on that kid_... I thought threateningly, waiting a beat before reappearing in the atrium of the Arbiter's Grounds. _I am going to strangle him with his own hat_. But to do that, I'd have to find him first, and I had no idea where to look. He could be anywhere; I wouldn't be able to avoid searching the place top to bottom, given his penchant for trouble and that awful curiosity coursing through him. Farore. Goddesses help him when I laid hands on that brat. It didn't help that I only vaguely understood the circumstances leading up to and involving his imprisonment, or my encounter with Copper Head. Maybe after I found the kid, I'd drag him around by his ear until we found her, and then I'd give her a piece of my mind and maybe challenge her to a duel or something. She might not have known it, but the kid's shadow had been far from empty.

"Well, I don't think he'd head into the Arbiter's Grounds..." Turning, I scrutinised the gilded silver gate, observing how much nicer it looked when not covered in a century's worth of grime and cobwebs and cast-off blood. Not nice enough to want to venture through it, of course, but admittedly a lot less creepy and foreboding than during my first visit. I really wanted to believe that the kid wasn't stupid enough to just frolic off through a gate like that, when it obviously led somewhere a little less than desirable- However, I grudgingly admitted that the kid would've wanted to get away from his captors, and after seeing for myself the veritable convention going down in the cross-legged statue room on the way here, that left the Arbiter's Grounds. He took the path less travelled. Damn him.

Muttering murderously to myself, I set off through the gates, transient, so as to avoid the oblivious women guarding my former prison, despair threatening to shake my concentration. I had a nagging suspicion that I'd find him in the Mirror Chamber. For some reason, that place just drew us – my past adventures aside. The first time we stumbled upon the place, I might or might not have bottled that stupid fairy of his and distracted the kid while a flying, fire-breathing mummy swooped down and almost fried us half to death. Call it karma, but all we took from the Desert Colossus was a good look at the crumbling Mirror and the knowledge that Navi served more of a purpose than twittering annoyingly. Some magical instruction and a few complications in Kakariko later, and I was with a certain princess in my home village rather than slinking around in a pint-sized hero's shadow. But I couldn't do anything about that now; I just needed to find the kid, and I was willing to bet fifty rupees I'd find him in that same room because it was where we'd left off, since there was no way in hell he'd tackle that well again, let alone by himself – and if I knew the kid at all, he would put two and two together and try to summon me or something ridiculous through the only artefact I'd personally confirmed as Twilit... as a definite connection to the guy who stole his very important sword. Good to know the kid possessed a few reasoning skills. And at least he had good timing, for once. Sort of.

I still harboured considerable reluctance when it came to revisiting the Mirror Chamber, of course. Only bad memories lived in there, whether they involved being roasted by an undead flame-thrower in this time, or being practically kidnapped by an insane imp-turned-princess in mine. Not that I had a choice, since I essentially brought this upon myself by ranting to the kid about how great and puzzling and infuriating the Mirror was – or at least, the magic associated with it, and how the Mirror acted as a portal between worlds. I had to find him before he tried touching the damn thing; I just hoped that nothing particularly nasty lurked in the chamber or on the way there this time around. I couldn't afford to waste time when, any second now, we could have another Dark Link on our hands if the kid kept up his inability to keep his hands to himself. And there were more than enough Links running around as it was without another Dark Link, too.

I cursed and took off up another short flight of stairs, sprinting through the semi-familiar corridors, now conspicuously unadorned by those awful spikes and warmed instead with the golden glow of braziers along the sandstone walls and thick red tapestries. The blocks were straight and clean-cut and rougher than I knew, completely opposite the condition in my time, but the passages were just as devoid of life, unless I counted the spiders. The emptiness alone warranted more than a little confusion, but coupled with the women mobbing the statue-room, I began to grow suspicious of the Gerudo. Well, even more suspicious. I didn't understand why the kid was locked up in the first place – I only had Nabooru's word to go on until that errant comment about how the Colossus was turning into some kind of magnet for lost little boys. Despite being more than a little offended by the implication, keeping my mouth shut allowed me to eavesdrop on the women chattering back and forth about an annoying blond boy in forest clothes, with a tattoo on the inside of his wrist of the symbol of their tribe. They called it a fake and a mystery and the only reason why he was still alive- Everyone was so busy trying to understand the hows and whys behind the magical tattoo that the Gerudo couldn't come to an agreement about what to do with the kid, and so they locked him away. Fat lot of good that did them, since the kid lived by reverse psychology.

And so, here we were. Well, here _I_ was, zigzagging as fast as I could through vaguely familiar tunnels I'd only ever travelled with a guide. Strangely enough, the only thing I had going for me was the distinct presence of the Mirror; when I focused, the heavy tendrils of shadowed magic curled around my awareness and produced something like tunnel-vision to the point where I kept stumbling into corners in my blind haste to reach the chamber and the deliciously certain promise of... something. Renewal? Discovery? Satisfaction? But what did I want this badly? Certainly not the kid. But goddesses, I couldn't deny the urgency fuelling my flight _because _of the kid. This pursuit would be so much quicker if I could just pass through the walls, but the sheer force of magic permeating the place prevented me from even dissolving without considerable effort. Definitely wasn't this much magic the first time around, or even the second or third, I noted bitterly. Damn Gerudo upped the ante. Or, maybe I just hadn't been able to sense the then-fading traces that so heavily clung to the sandstone now. Either way, it didn't bode well. I'd recognised the magic in the atmosphere almost the second I'd stepped foot inside with the kid, but it hadn't been anywhere near this... lethal. Something just felt off. Wrong. Ominous. _Just wonderful. I love ominous_.

Growling slightly, I shoved off from yet another wall and staggered into a thick door I didn't remember being here. I staggered backwards, confused, until a pointy green hat and troublesome blue eyes and some semblance of a purpose crashed back into my awareness... But before I could even reach for the doorknob, a small fist collided with my stomach and I hunched over, wheezing, readying myself to curse the sad son of a bitch, when someone whispered frantically, "D? What are you- D be quiet!"


	13. zombies in the park

"YOU!" I hissed furiously in disbelief, rubbing my gut and jamming my free hand in the kid's nasty little face to keep him at bay. Yes, he looked shocked by my appearance, but his expression didn't negate his words in the least. And what was more, by whatever miracle, he still had all of his weapons despite having just escaped a prison cell. Had I known that the Gerudo didn't bother disarming prisoners, I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of hiding my own arms. That was energy I couldn't get back – at least, not any time soon, given the apparent situation, which only fed the flames. I had to admit, though, that I took some small joy in his state of disarray: his hair was a bit mussed and he seemed a little out of breath. _Serves him right_. I chased him all over the damn Arbiter's Grounds just to find him with his ear glued to some out-of-the-way door in the basement of a colossal temple in the middle of the freaking desert. Bloody. Brilliant. I came all this way just to find him _eavesdropping_, of all the useful things. "You are officially the worst rescuee ever! I came in here looking for you and you just _had_ to-"

He whirled around from his crouching position by the door, a thick finger pressed to his lips. "Shut. _Up_! The witches are in there!"

Oh, goddesses, I felt my eye twitch. _What the _hell_ is he on about now?_ Witches? Had he stirred up some terrible magical revolution? Trust the kid to think up something utterly ridiculous, a perfect problem that I'd willingly tumbled into. Again. "What have you done? What witches? Argh, forget it, kid, let's _go_!"

"No!" Straightening, he looked me dead in the eye with his most determined expression, the one he saved for when he wanted to appear extra tough, before shuffling off to one of a pair of dimly lit alcoves that framed the doorway. Stupid prat. His hat sat crookedly on his head and only made him look like the awful little brat he was at heart. Between the raging confusion and urgent need to understand, there was hardly any time to feel even _more_ offended at his dismissive treatment. "What are you doing here? What'd you do with my sword, huh? Did ya kill him? That's why you took it, isn't it? That's why you came back-"

"Kill _who?_ And I put that thing back in its proper place." I crossed my arms smugly. "Damn near got me killed, that thing. Multiple times. Like its owner. The same kid I came to rescue from this warrior-woman-"

The kid huffed, "Ganondorf, duh. And _I_ don't need to be rescued."

"No, I didn't kill him. That's _your_ job, you idiot, not mine." Groaning a little, I resisted the urge to smack my forehead, although I did take the opportunity to shake the insistent fuzz out of my head. Damn kid. Damn Gerudo. Damn Mirror. It had to be on the other side of that door because the pulse of its magic resonated in my bones and utterly distracted me. Granted, it felt like a darker version of the twilight I knew, but given the fact that we were a hundred years in the past, I wasn't exactly surprised. The kid's audacity on the other hand... "Unlike _some_ people, I don't go around killing things, especially when-"

"_D_!"

"_Stop interrupting me_!" I practically howled back at him. But neither of us got the chance to continue because the double doors banged inward, exposing a long room with a beautiful blood-red carpet connecting the entrance to the far wall, which was hung with a vaguely familiar, heavy-looking arrangement of an ornate silver shield backed by an array of arrows and two shiny short swords. I might've admired the place a little more if I hadn't looked up to find two cackling old hags on broomsticks, hovering around the cracked Mirror at the far end of the room. ...Hovering around the cracked Mirror and casting some sort of spell on it. _Nayru help me_. The kid and I stepped over the threshold at the same time.

"Who the _hell_ are you?" I demanded rudely, hands on hips and almost snarling. "Get away from that Mirror!" Beside me, the kid groaned as he kicked me hard in the shin. I stumbled, cursing at him, but he ignored me and blocked my way to the still-laughing hags with his stout little body. And his next-to-useless toy sword. And some pretty impressive words, considering his position.

"Where is she? What did you do with her?" he asked them calmly, steel in his voice. "I heard what Aveil said to you-"

"Ooh, did you, boy? And what's this, a shadow demon?" grinned the hag on the left. The two were virtually identical, except for the colour of their bulging, crazy eyes that seemed to stare in opposite directions like a lizard's. The one talking right now had icy blue eyes, while her sister's were fiery orange. Both had great beaks of noses, sun-spotted and hooked and big enough to shove at least fifty rupees up each nostril, and wild, wiry grey hair that at one point had been gathered into buns and pinned to the tops of their enormous heads. Each of them perched on a floating broomstick, their gnarled bodies wrapped in voluminous cloaks that matched their respective eyes. I cringed. "We don't like eavesdroppers, do we, Kotake?"

Shrieking hysterically, Kotake bared her teeth. "Nasty little things they are, aren't they, Koume? What shall we do with this one and his... friend?"

Link actually raised his sword and shield. I stared at him, dumbfounded by the interaction, as the hags orbited the Mirror in some sort of ritualistic dance, giggling shrilly and egging each other on by saying the other's name every few words. What did he expect to do, lop off their heads from a good stone's-throw away? He was good with a sword, but not that good; not even the wolf could manage something like that. Probably. And what "she" had he mentioned before? Who was Aveil? Confused, I stood frozen in the doorway as he braced himself for some sort of incoming while I just watched blankly as something undeniably undesirable unfolded before my eyes- but the witches only laughed louder, halting side by side in front of the dais to face us.

"Well, Koume, he did bring his pet out to play."

"Oh," cooed the other twin, "what a wonderful idea, Kotake. The boy isn't worth our time, after all, and it would be _rude_ to refuse his request."

Unable to resist the bait, I hollered at them and drew my bow, twin arrows balanced delicately on my bowstring in a blatant warning. "OI!" With a quick glance at the kid's stormy expression, I snapped at him, "You mind telling me just what in Din's name is happening here?"

"Boy, you should keep better control of your shadow," muttered the closest sister, the fiery one. She had a nasty glint in her eye that I instinctively disliked. "They should be seen and not heard!" Her hand raised, palm towards me, and a terrible heaviness began to accumulate at my shoulder blades and the centre of my chest- But her twin stopped her with a playful giggle.

"Oh, don't bother, Koume. We mustn't spoil our pet's fun!"

While I struggled to catch my breath again, the two spun around on their broomsticks, cackling, and circled the Mirror one last time before vanishing in a smelly cloud of purple smoke with a soft pop. The relief flooding through me stopped dead in its tracks when I caught sight of the enormous black knight now suddenly standing between us and the Mirror, armed with a strange weapon that seemed from this distance to be a combination between an iron axe and broadsword, held perpendicular across its chest. But since it wasn't particularly interested with us at the moment and I felt like punching the now-absent old hag in the nose for threatening me, I let the arrows fly and predictably, ping harmlessly off the knight's armour. The kid snorted.

"That was helpful."

I shut my eyes. _This isn't real life_. _This is some elaborate joke and in a minute you're going to wake up and you'll see it's Midna's idea of a prank_- The kid snorted again. Furious, I rounded on him. "More helpful than _you_'ve been, you mean. I leave you alone for a week and you not only manage to rally the entire Gerudo forces against me, you scored yourself a place on death row!" I drew my sword with a spectacular clatter and shook the hilt in his face, only just restraining myself from stabbing him in the eye. "_What is going on_?"

Link snorted a third time, but he nevertheless faced me, this time mirroring my stance from earlier. "_You_ left me alone," he stated matter-of-factly, as if that explained everything.

My eye twitched again. "And I suppose your sandbox sprang a leak."

Growling savagely, the kid lunged for me but I held him at arm's length with my free hand on his forehead. He never appreciated my wit; the kid damn near exploded with indignation, and I was sure that if he could express his inner temperature, my right hand would've been ash. Arms flailing about his head and sword forgotten on the sandstone floor, he shoved a finger into my chest and stood on his toes, the top of his head pressing against my palm insistently. "I _came_ here looking for _you_, not sand or gauntlets or anything else! I needed my sword back-!"

"Well you've got it back! I returned it to the Temple of Time in order to get here in the first place!" I waved my sword, annoyed. "Now can we leave? I've got half the desert in my boots and I think my face is peeling. You know I hate this place." Another disgusted wave. "Especially here. You just had to stumble into the Arbiter's Grounds, didn't you?"

"I didn't stumble into anything," he pouted. Obviously sulking, he retrieved his sword and straightened his belt, but he didn't give any indication of preparing to face the knight, which I took to be a good sign. Maybe he'd actually let this one go and come with me without a fuss, and we could get out of this sandy hellhole. Oh, Din, I hoped to the goddesses he'd see- "And we aren't leaving. Not until I find her."

Groaning I rolled my eyes. "_Who_? What sort of wild goose chase have you cooked up this time?"

"I'm not gonna tell you." Nose in the air, the kid's pout intensified spectacularly. "Not with you acting so high-and-mighty all the time. You're such a jerk, D. You steal my sword and disappear for a whole week without any sort of _anything_, and then you suddenly show up _here_, right when I had them cornered!"

Them, being the witches. That was about all I got out of his little tirade – honest to Farore, the kid could be such a melodramatic brat sometimes, and this was coming from me of all people. I let out my best long-suffering sigh and rocked onto my heels, arms crossed with impatience. We were still in dangerous waters here – entirely too close to the Mirror for my liking, and entirely too close to a whole hornets' nest of trouble that the kid wanted to poke his nose into for some unfathomable reason. We'd been here ages ago and hadn't found anything interesting except for a zombie that breathed fire and dive-bombed us like a bloody bird. We'd _agreed_ that there was no point in exploring the place after that incident. And for some reason, I felt a little betrayed at his insistence on staying here.

"You. Are. Not. Making. Sense," I bit back at him. "Yes, I understand it's all very complicated, but really, kid, we need to go. This is no place for games. That thing's dangerous, like I said before." To my displeasure, my voice adopted a pained note. "We need to get out of here before there's another accident."

He turned on the false bravado and glared at me haughtily, something that might have been interpreted as condescending if he were in his future form. "What, and leave _that_ to wander about the place?"

"You had no problem leaving that shadow in the well," I sneered. "But anyway, that thing isn't wandering about. It's standing there, not doing anything. It's probably empty."

"Oh yeah?" I watched with growing distaste as a wicked grin lit his face and those bright blue eyes took on a mad shine. "Shoot it again. In the eye. Right in the beaver. I dare you. You won't!"

"Why the hell would I do that? I'd be wasting a perfectly good-"

"You _can't_!"

In a single fluid motion, I'd whipped out my bow and an arrow and had the two balanced and ready to fire before the kid could take another breath. I'd left my sword levitating ominously in the air beside me, just to deter him from more pointless taunts. This was a complete waste of time, but if he wanted to be sure of the witches' trick, who was I to refuse his wish? I always did appreciate the chance to show off my marksmanship. With a devilish grin of my own, I drew back the string, muttered, "Oh, _can't_ I?" and heard more than saw the arrow stick, quivering, in whatever lay on the other side of the beaver. Whatever it was, wasn't at all happy. My jaw dropped in mild surprise.


	14. darkness is a harsh term don't you think

"I told ya so!" shrieked the kid, waving his sword around with definitive _glee_. Psycho. He was practically hopping up and down with excitement. I'd only just replaced my bow and begun wrapping my fingers about the hilt of my sword when he rocketed towards the knight with a miniature war cry, and all I could think to myself was, This _is what happens when you don't let the puppy out for a week_. "I've got this one!"

To assuage my anxiety over the Mirror's presence, I placed myself firmly between the battle and the dais. Dryly, I observed, "It's three times your height."

"And twice yours!"

But size never stopped him before, and it didn't now. He kept hacking at the knight's knees, dashing around its feet to keep from getting hit by the heavy axe-sword. The knight moved slow enough not to pose a serious problem as long as the kid kept up his frantic movements and avoided the wide arc of its weapon... except, in the midst of the dance, I noticed a bright glimmer at the knight's side and squinting until I got a good look, I saw with a jolt a shining scimitar completely at odds with the swordsman's bulk. Suspicions piqued, I dashed into the fray and let the kid draw attention while I strategically cut away pieces of armour; by the time I got to the chest plate, realisation dawned on me. Empty, my foot. The damn suit was like one of those dolls that had smaller and smaller dolls within larger shells. And with the way the armour fell away beneath my blade like butter, I finally understood that I'd done exactly what the witches wanted, and released their pet from its prison.

Leaping forward, I grabbed the kid around the middle and took him with me just as the knight released an impressive groan and shook off the rest of its cumbersome armour. The heavy plates slid from its body, but only the chest plate exploded when it contacted the floor – only the chest plate exploded as a swarm of twilit pieces that immediately fused with the Mirror once more, forcing a bright orange glow from the frame for a split second. This was not good. Those goddesses-damned witches _had_ messed with the Mirror. Goddesses only knew what else they'd done aside from creating this menace.

"It wanted me to cut its armour off!" I hissed at the kid, still clutching his collar tightly in my fist. He squirmed free and resumed his battle stance as the knight paused before us, flexing its fingers and examining its exposed silver gauntlets. These I eyed with more than a little resentment since they certainly seemed like the gauntlets Copper Head had mentioned, but they would have to wait. The revealed body was much leaner now that its armour had been disposed of: the same dark helmet remained, but beneath that fine chainmail dripped from its shoulders to be secured at the waist by a wide leather belt that housed the scimitar I'd noticed earlier. As I watched, the knight suddenly shifted onto the balls of its feet and readied its charge, blatantly advertising its newfound agility. Wonderful. At least it couldn't wield that stupid axe-sword anymore. Downside, when it tossed it away, the heavy weapon took out most of a support pillar on the other side of the room. _Maybe this is why they moved the Mirror to the chamber upstairs_...

"Hey D," Link mumbled, his eyes flicking to me. He slowly relaxed until he had his arms crossed loosely and a cheeky grin. "You can take it from here, right?"

I tightened my grip on the hilt. "What happened to letting you fight your own battles, huh?" He flashed me a toothy smile. If this was the kid's way of punishing me, then so be it. I wouldn't argue the fact that I deserved this treatment. Rather, I wouldn't refute the fact that I understood that I deserved this treatment, theoretically. The kid didn't know what I'd gone through to get back here, and with any luck, Malon would keep her mouth shut about certain incidents and things would progress as smoothly as possible. If this was what it took to earn the kid's cooperation and trust again, I'd take it. "Fine. Just don't go near the Mirror. I mean it. I can't fight and babysit at the same time."

Something of a pout coloured his face for a brief moment. "You're losing your touch D." Then he turned on his heel and left the room. He actually opened the door, stepped over the threshold, and shut it smartly behind him. No indication whatsoever of what he was up to. I blinked for a stricken second after him before being rudely brought back to my senses by the rustling of the knight's mail.

"You," I snapped at it, "are hopelessly complicating things," and smashed the pommel into its jaw. Staggering sideways, it seemed dazed by the blow, but recovered quickly with a slash that I only just parried; it had incredible strength. Of course, maybe I could've gathered that from the way it'd pulverised the pillar earlier, but whatever. Nothing beat experiencing something's strength. And boy was I experiencing it.

With a hearty groan, I shoved back on our locked swords and dove sideways as the blade darted after me with speed that shouldn't have accompanied a broadsword that heavy. I didn't quite understand why the knight insisted on using the unwieldy broadsword when a scimitar glistened at its side, but I wasn't about to stop and ask and make any sort of suggestion as to which weapon would give it the advantage. Well, more of an advantage, really. Heavier sword aside, the knight moved just as fast as I could, and I was maybe a head or two shorter and definitely lighter. This game had gone on long enough.

I warped across the room to the Mirror, a nasty grin tugging at the corner of my mouth. "All right, buddy. Time's up." Just as the knight checked its motion to wheel around and face me, I placed a hand on the Mirror and felt the twilight charge through my fingers, igniting my blood with something thrillingly powerful. For the first time in a long while, I felt spectacularly _capable_ – magic crackled at my fingertips. Gone was the exhaustion from the desert; the aches leftover from the Gerudo in Castletown vanished. _This is what I came to find_. With my free hand, I aimed at the oncoming knight and let loose a frenzied shower of brilliant greens and blues, all of which collided with my target and damn near melted the mail on contact. It took maybe a half a step closer before tumbling to the now-scorched carpet. I turned my back and plucked the shiny shield off the wall, burnishing it with my sleeve until I almost flinched at the reminder of my eye colour. Then I moved back towards the Mirror, reaching out to pat it affectionately.

"Glad this thing actually came in handy for- once." I froze. Beneath my outstretched palm, I saw the distinct outline etched into the face of the Mirror, still glimmering with residual blue-green energy. And when it disappeared a second later, an intense pain shot through my left arm, a ghost of the agony that had thoroughly ripped me apart when the transformation into Dark Link first began... when something had irresistibly dragged me towards the Mirror until I'd lost balance and made contact. Ice water flooded my stomach.

_You did this. You did this to yourself._

And the worst part, this was all happening a century before I technically even existed. This: this stupid battle with this stupid magical knight in this stupid temple in the middle of the desert, the idiotic train of thought that had made it seem like a brilliant idea to take the knight out with a bang of twilight, the moronic impulse to press my left hand against the Mirror and exchange energy. That hadn't been just anything drawing me into the Mirror – it had been _my signature_. The Mirror had recognised me, just as I'd used my familiarity with it to find this room. It'd recognised _me_. Parts of my essence. Part of the shadowy, half-Twili Dark Link that only existed _because_ shadowy, half-Twili Dark Link was incredibly stupid and arrogant and infuriating and just couldn't stoop to using his sword or bow like any normal person. I just had to siphon magic. I just had to be drained enough to _need_ to siphon magic. Oh, Farore, but this was all inevitable.

Slow clapping interrupted the steady tide of despair. I looked up to find the kid applauding my efforts, still with that stupid smile on his face. "Nice fireworks." I just stared back at him, too frozen with horror at my recent realisation to summon a proper reaction. Or at least, I thought so, until something wrapped its hand around my ankle and I leapt into the air and stayed there. The hand released me, but its owner continued watching me with the most helpless, lost expression I'd ever seen in my life, on a face I'd hoped to never see again.


	15. this fire grows high

"_YOU_!" I roared at the woman, all flaming red hair and amber eyes and white silk. "You crazy bitch! This was a set up, wasn't it!"

Nabooru glared back, evidently electing to play dumb. Bits of charred armour clung to her hair and clothes and the immediate area, but her scimitar seemed unscathed enough as she clutched it, debating whether or not to draw. Pity. "I've never seen you before in my life, you red-eyed freak," she snapped waspishly. "Come down from there, coward!"

"Oh, _I'm_ the coward?" Furious, I reappeared directly in front of her, so that we stood nose to nose, shooting daggers at each other with our eyes. And I would've continued the argument too, if this were seven years from now. This was the kid's original time. I'd been in the kid's future. Shit. She was actually right... about never having met me, not the cowardice. Honest to goddesses, the timelines would be the death of me. Thankfully, the kid saved me from sharing any incriminating little tidbits about things to come, although I wondered vaguely if saving Nabooru here and now affected the future. But there was time to worry about that later.

"Nabooru!" exclaimed the kid excitedly, rushing towards the Gerudo while waving his arms enthusiastically. "I told you I'd find you!"

"Yeah, kid, but I didn't think you'd bring a friend." She eyed me with rapidly cooling anger, then thought better of it and ignored me completely in favour of everyone's favourite pint-sized maniac. "What's happened? The last thing I remember is talking to you in front of the Colossus... and then waking up here, to this freak."

Link grinned. "His name is D. He's kinda like my shadow-" I snorted at this. "-but not. D freed you."

"Oh yeah?" Amber eyes narrowed to slits. Then she bent down and scooped up the silver gauntlets that had been part of the knight's getup, and held them out to the kid. "If I'm not mistaken," she smirked, "Aveil promised you these, didn't she?" If she hadn't added that, I might have been offended and demanded some material expression of gratitude as well, just to live up to my reputation as a petulant asshole. As it was, my curiosity outweighed my petulance.

"Wait a second. Aveil. That means we met her when we first visited...?"

The kid rolled his eyes at me, looking for a moment as though he might not answer the question. "Yes. She's the second-in-command here, but since Nabooru disappeared, she's kind of taken over. I overhead her talking about her plan-"

"I think she liked me."

Nabooru snickered at that: "Don't flatter yourself, kid. She may be nuts, but Gerudo have standards, and you are significantly subpar."

"Sarcasm, do you speak it?" Sniffing disdainfully, I sheathed my sword with a flourish and bared my teeth. "I can just as easily put you back where I found you."

"I'd like to see you try," she challenged, but it fell flat between us. She burnt with a kind of urgency, an anxiety that quickly permeated the narrow hall of a room. The ominous power of the Mirror lurking in the background didn't make things any more pleasant, especially not since I finally realised the significance of this little adventure. _Damn the desert_. "We need to get out of here and find Aveil before she does even more damage. Din only knows what she's been up to with me out of the picture all this time." She started for the door, the kid in hot pursuit, when I hovered alongside her as annoyingly as I could.

"Sorry, but I think I forgot my omniscient hat at home this morning. Mind bringing me up to speed?" Nabooru's steady pace faltered for a second, but she quickly resumed her brisk jog through the winding corridors of the Arbiter's Grounds. "I know where Aveil is, but I won't-"

With a great sigh of exasperation, she skidded to a halt and faced me. "Aren't shadows supposed to be quiet?" she demanded, glaring sideways at the kid, but he just shrugged. "I don't understand why he doesn't know what's going on if he's been in your shadow this entire time."

"I'm _not_ his shadow," I bit back, irritated. "I'm just travelling with him. I look nothing like him, anyway; shadows are supposed to resemble their caster. Farore." I felt someone tug on the back of my tunic and turned in mid-air to scowl at the kid. He knew better than to touch me. I wasn't quite as bad as that skittish wolf, but I was willing to admit I could get a little dagger-happy with surprises.

"Aveil supports Ganondorf, so the witches support her. She's trying to unite the Gerudo under his banner so they can make war on Castletown if the King of Hyrule doesn't surrender."

"So it's politics, then." I couldn't keep the slight tinge of disappointment from my voice. Both of them sighed and immediately resumed their pace, and I elected to join them on solid ground as Link's shadow, finally up to my ears with Mirror complications and consequences and ready to once again play the part of the invisible companion. It had been part of our initial bargain that I remain hidden from most of the people we encountered in Hyrule since I wasn't supposed to exist here anyway. I didn't exactly mind at the moment. And whatever the trouble was with Aveil, I'd willingly focus on that over the despair now associated with the Mirror. When I saw Midna again, I'd have to bring that up – but for now, I announced Aveil's presence in the statue room, and Nabooru began sprinting as she muttered curses in her native tongue.

x

We surged into the cavernous room from an upper-level door on the periphery, emerging onto a small balcony that overlooked the entire mass of women crowded below. Astonishment rolled over the assembly. The kid and Nabooru checked their momentum as the heavy sandstone door slid shut behind them, seemingly poised to leap onto the right hand of the massive golden goddess sitting cross-legged against the opposite wall, while I lurked in the shadows, reluctant to reveal my presence but picking up on the foreboding feeling permeating the air. It was clear we'd interrupted some kind of rally – half the women still had their halberds raised towards another figure; just to our left on another balcony that extended into the centre of the room, all red silk and frenzied golden eyes, her long, copper ponytail played around her like a cape as she whipped around to stare. Aveil utterly froze, evidently unsure of her next move with the whisper of Nabooru's title of leader sweeping the women like wildfire. But the Gerudo at the kid's side didn't hesitate for more than a second.

"Aveil!" she called with frightening authority. "You _traitor_! How could you-" And then she stopped quite suddenly because what looked like one of my twilit arrows protruded from her chest, still quivering from its flight, gradually turning the clothes to ash and the skin to a terrifying orange. Time stopped. Nabooru looked down in confusion, her breath caught in her lungs, and the next time she glanced up, she found herself looking directly into the pale green eyes I recognised as my mother's. I was half out of the kid's shadow in horror and outrage when I felt his small hand clasp my shoulder and actually hold me back, just as what had to be the Sage of Spirit virtually disintegrated before our eyes.

"D, no!" he hissed with a hint of fear, under a thick glaze of shock.

And in that same instant I saw through the glamour: this pale-skinned, lanky boy hovering before us, dressed in the same rough black tunic with the same battered grey gauntlets and tattered ivory undershirt and dark grey pants beneath all of that – this boy, bearing an identical bow to mine and sighting down another twilit shaft – this _creature_ that dared to make a mockery of my dead mother – intended only to distract. At the edges of his form, I could now clearly make out the glimmerings of red and blue and all the associated shades, could even hear the hysterical cackling of those hags – all the evidence I needed to see the witches' plot. With a furious cry, I sprang from the kid's shadow but a split-second too late; my doppelganger fired, driving the arrow deep into the kid's right shoulder just as I tackled him. I hesitated only for a moment because I could see Aveil rushing at us, hollering something in Gerudo, blatantly inciting the masses below; women had begun to swarm the stairways, effectively cornering us on this tiny platform.

Beneath me, the kid squirmed, freed himself, saw the blood, cast Nayru's Love, and I somehow dragged the two of us across a considerable gap until we were tangled in a disordered heap on the goddess' outstretched palm. Blame it on the chaos, but I swore to Din the hand moved to bridge the distance for us. Aveil shouted something and the doppelganger nocked another arrow, contorting my own face into wicked triumph. Except, he had his back to us suddenly, as if he acted as our defender.

"Oh, goddesses, no!" I howled. But the arrow he'd used was burning its way through the kid, distracting me sufficiently and giving him the opportunity to further his little masquerade. Behind me the kid sprawled on his side, the spell still miraculously holding around us despite its caster's deteriorating state; I wasn't willing to test how long it would last given the circumstances, and nor did I want to, not with a twilit arrow protruding from the Hero of Time. Goddesses, this wasn't supposed to happen! Panicking, I pressed a hand against his small chest and wrapped my other around the shaft, extracting it as twilight, but the kid's eyelids were fluttering alarmingly, his skin clammy.

"D..." he muttered, grasping the hand still hovering over him, attempting to summon the twilight out of him. The Triforce flashed once, a brilliant blinding glow, and vanished again.

"Shit. Shit!" Link shut his eyes. "Kid, don't you bloody dare! Stay awake!"

Belatedly realising that the pale blue, crystalline shield of the spell was weakening, I could only watch as my doppelganger turned transient to avoid airborne halberds, grinned nastily, and shook his finger back and forth at the dumbfounded Gerudo. This was a nightmare. I redirected my attention to the kid and hit him with my fist out of frustration, only realising what I'd done after impact. Before I had a chance to react, the doppelganger spoke.

"Fight fire," he said in a voice that sounded nothing like mine, "with _fire_." As if on command, Aveil screamed the incantation for Din's Fire and instantly the doppelganger fell back, looking for all the world like the cat that swallowed the canary. He turned to us, still surrounded by the kid's fading magic and adequately out of his reach, and looked directly at me. "That should teach you a lesson, demon."

I gritted my teeth in fury, hardly daring a response as I literally watched myself mock-warp away. I was willing to bet all the rupees I had and any I'd ever find that the witches were headed back to the Mirror Chamber to wreak some more havoc. Goddesses only knew what would happen next, and I sure as hell wished for a miracle, for Nabooru to somehow, someway thwart their plans just as she'd wished before that damn arrow found its mark. I wanted to have a fighting chance at correcting some of this mess when the dust finally settled. If Nabooru really was the Sage of Spirit, maybe we could revive her by returning seven years from now and giving the place a thorough scouring of its unsavoury elements. But in order to do any of that, I needed the kid, and I'd be damned if he burnt to ashes like Nabooru or turned into a monster like me. Twilight had no place in this world, let alone at the heart of its goddesses-chosen hero.

The kid jostled me back to the present predicament by scrabbling at my hand again. Gasping, I stared down at him disbelievingly, shocked that he was conscious enough to mumble frantically, "D, warp us out too! Maybe we can still catch them!"

"I can't do that," I insisted quietly. Goddesses, but was that a spark of orange in his eyes or just the firelight? The spell was breaking around us, finally splintering into jewel-like shards that clattered soundlessly to the floor made by the goddess' palm. I had no intention of keeping the kid out of harm's way with only my body but I was pressing my luck just staying here with him like this, the twilight doing goddesses-knew-what to him – there was no Midna here to fix the damage, people were about to explode in our faces in the form of angry warrior women determined to wrongfully punish us for their leader's murder, and the last thing I needed was a little rabid wolf pup running around, nipping at people's heels instead of ripping them to shreds. _Goddesses, this day just keeps getting better and better._ "Link, I can't _do_ that-"

The kid had somehow pushed himself into a sitting position, his ocarina in his hands, even as he struggled to recast the protective spell before the wisps faded from his previous effort. Without really giving any serious thought to what I was about to do, I grabbed his hands to keep him from casting the spell and shook my head once to the left. Then I turned to look at the Gerudo as several of them prepared to jump the gap, and actually felt the warning flash through my gaze. _But I can do _this. A brilliant blue-green wave erupted from my outstretched palm and knocked anything in the vicinity into the nearest solid vertical surface amidst startled gasps and a few involuntary shrieks. _And that, ladies, is what I call vengeance. _

The kid tugged out of my grasp and set the ocarina to his lips, his eyes drooping dangerously and his hands shaking-

"No time for that," I muttered. "We're leaving."


	16. an interlude

"That _was_ pretty cool," the kid mumbled into his sleeve. "Just so you know."

"It wasn't," I snapped back at him. "It wasn't bloody _cool_. It almost bloody killed you."

"You always exaggerate."

"And you don't?"

"It was a compliment this time."

I glared. Then shut my eyes and tipped my head back to rest against the cool marble of the sword chamber. Across from me with his back against the Master Sword, the kid rested his chin on arms crossed over bent knees as he watched me with silent interest. He'd been caught up with my "fireworks" ever since he'd regained consciousness, insisting every so often that I should teach him the spell. That only started the cyclic:

"Show me how you did that."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"But you almost killed me."

"No."

"But it was cool."

"No."

"Please, D."

"Okay."

"Yes!"

"Just kidding."

"_D_!"

And then he'd curse at me for a bit, maybe pout and stomp around, but for the most part he'd quiet, we'd talk about something else most likely twilight related, he'd think for a while, and we'd go back to square one. The first few times I'd kept a tally. Now, I wanted him to stop reminding me about his near-death experience. Of course, I didn't share the fine print with him; no, I hung onto that, using it to fuel my fury against the witches: the arrow hadn't been twilit. Just like everything else associated with their magic, they'd played on a calculated liability, my concern for the kid's safety – and I'd taken the bait. All they'd had to do was make the arrow _seem_ twilit, and in the heat of the moment, my distraction allowed their little plan to continue full steam ahead. Lovely. But all of that just meant that _I'd_ introduced twilight into the kid's system through the open wound, and while it in no way resembled the blood-bond I shared with Midna, I anticipated consequences. Obviously, this left me more than a little disgruntled with Link's antics, everything else aside. At least I'd shown the Gerudo who they were messing with... too bad it didn't deter them in the slightest.

It had been a few days since our frenzied flight from the Desert Colossus, and since then, we'd both replenished our strength, restocked our supplies, gotten some much-deserved sleep, and _I_ had finally received the full account of the kid's misadventures. As it turned out, the kid had gone back to the Gerudo Fortress to look for me, overheard Aveil's plot to take over the world, revealed himself with his clumsiness and ended up in the Colossus to be sentenced before Nabooru, but was subsequently acquitted by Nabooru the instant he spilt the juicy fruits of his eavesdropping labour. However, Aveil effectively crashed their little revealing party by tipping off the hags, the hags kidnapped Nabooru and enchanted her into their pet black knight in the Mirror Chamber, and the kid got himself thrown into a pretty little cell in the depths of the Arbiter's Grounds for his trouble. Aveil's only mistakes aside from the obvious had been arresting the kid for trespassing and letting her guards not only leave his weapons with him, but take a good long look at the magical tribal symbol tattooed on his wrist, thus preventing her from outright killing him without suspicion. And so her little campaign had begun. And some days later, the kid'd finally managed to squeeze through the bars, I'd arrived on scene, and here we were, all because of a dumb bet over a handful of rupees I'd found in a ditch in the Field.

Obviously, the rupees bought us more than enough trouble, including the kid's first permanent mark of rebellion. Well, okay, maybe the second if you counted his Triforce. Either way, my point still stood: Meeting the Gerudo in the first place was technically the kid's fault. It all started when he'd decided to explore the stupid temple way out in the middle of the desert, after I'd bet him fifty rupees that his horse couldn't jump the broken bridge in the canyon. That, of course, was my bad. Anytime he found any money whatsoever, he always spent it on sweets. But it was his fault we ended up in a third-storey cell in a massively creepy adobe fortress at the end of the trail in the basin of the canyon. My first clue to turn around had been the skeletons dangling from a natural archway formed by the rock, but the damn kid just kept riding his dumb mare right into the thick of things, right up to the front gate. The body triggered an uncomfortable flashback to Ordon and Desn and my neighbour in the tree, whose body Talo had asked me to shoot down. However, there was nothing new about the kid not heeding blatant omens, though, especially when he thought he had the upper hand with the Master Sword in his possession.

Long story short, the kid ended up spending a considerable amount of time rolling around the place in "full stealth mode" until he finally duelled and soundly beat the second-in-command, whom I now recognised as a weasel in Gerudo's clothing named Aveil. Nabooru – then known as the mysterious "Leader" – had been away on business in the Colossus, and so probably as an effort to save face, Aveil had insisted on striking a bargain. Neither of us really understood what was happening until she brought out a mini-brand and tattooed the inside of Link's right wrist with a miniature tribal symbol, much to his displeasure. It turned out, of course, to be magical. Only real explanation for how the sideways-wrench-in-a-mound-of-dirt-looking tattoo still appeared on his wrist as a kid, seven years before he received it. Curious, but at this point, I just wrote it off as "MAGIC" and let it go. We had bigger problems, including hoping to Nayru we weren't too late. Or wouldn't be, by the time we did any sword pulling.

The kid heaved a quiet huff and I glanced at him almost disinterestedly. "What if you disappear again? Will you kill the witches and save Nabooru?"

"I... don't think I will." That was a good question. But as far as I knew, Zelda had no intention of recalling me to our time. Of course, that meant that I had no clue how I'd get back... but we'd cross that bridge when we got there. For now, we had somewhat bigger, uglier, and definitely sandier problems at hand that absolutely couldn't and wouldn't wait until we were completely ready to deal with them. ...Not to mention my dilemma when it came to trying to think of some reason to keep him out of Castletown. Bloody heroism. "And if I do, I'll just... come back. I know what to do now," I lied.

Squinting at me, he finally shifted to his feet and wrapped his hands around the hilt. Poor kid. He stood about as tall as the sword and yet had a list of responsibilities that stretched from here to Death Mountain and back again. Who the hell trusted a bunch of kids to make these sorts of decisions and accomplish these tasks? I had only a few years on him when everything began for me, and it had been difficult enough. At least I'd felt grown up because of my parents' deaths and my role in the village. This kid... Link basked in his childishness. He'd lived with creepy little forest children who never expected or wanted to become adults. Not that I held that against him, of course, but still. His Zelda was a real character.

"Well, you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," I replied, slipping easily into his shadow. Worse came to worst, I'd just offer him a trip via twilight. They were pretty cool, after all, and while it would leave me drained, the apparent invasion of Castletown would be neatly avoided. For a while. Besides, if he met up with Malon and she told him what I'd done... Well. _Think happy thoughts. _"Let's give 'em hell."

"You said it, not me," he grinned in response, and this time, curiously enough, the sword slid easily from the pedestal. I was just about to comment on the infuriating detail when the hairs on my nape prickled, luring me from my hiding place at the kid's feet. The second I solidified, a look of disgust immediately cemented itself across my face. Leaning expectantly against the stone archway of the only exit to the room, my least favourite of the kid's acquaintances watched us with hooded ruby eyes.

"I see you have returned, Hero," he murmured in that effeminate voice of his. I gave him the evil eye until he relented with, "And Shadow," a significantly less offensive title than his former favourite.

There was something strange about this guy that I just couldn't place, and his stupid blinding Deku nuts only pissed me off even more. Maybe they fooled the kid, but they certainly didn't fool me – blinded me, yes, and gave me a splitting headache, but I could see the obnoxious Sheikah make his escape every time. Sometimes I entertained the idea that we'd just gotten off on the wrong foot... and then I remembered our first encounter.

_I didn't know how, but instead of standing in the dank claustrophobia of the water temple, we had relocated to the highest island in the lake. When I cautiously extracted myself from the shadows, the kid stepped down from a low pedestal engraved with the Triforce and glared at me, his hands waving ridiculously in my direction._

_"Go back!" he hissed. "You can't come out here- Someone could see you!"_

_"Goddesses forbid," I snorted in reply. "Ruto's seen me."_

_Huffing, he tried approaching and swatting me directly. "And that wasn't supposed to happen! Go away! We made a deal!" His boots stomped around softly on the uneven, mossy soil in apparent distress. Trust the kid to make a scene just for the sake of-_

_"A sword demon?"_

_Link and I stopped instantly; he turned his head mid-flail, and I stared blankly from my half-solidified position at the slight figure silhouetted by the bright glare of the rising sun. I couldn't see through the blinding rays filtering into the lake from the hills and mountains that ringed the area, but it sure looked and sounded like a girl. But what the hell was a girl doing here, randomly hanging out on this lonely island in the middle of a previously infested lake? Furthermore, how could she address the kid with any familiarity whatsoever? Squinting and using my hand to block some of the sunlight, my eyes finally adjusted enough to detect a few more details about the mysterious person. I wasn't certain about its gender despite its relatively form-fitting clothes, but it seemed small and slight enough to be a female, although the hips and shoulders were broad enough for either a teenaged boy or an athletic woman. Whatever it was, it had a few unruly tufts of thick golden hair that just obscured eyes the colour of the rubies. Utterly unnatural. Which, combined with its apparent attitude towards me, made me all the more wary._

_"What is the meaning of this?" It was leaning nonchalantly against a scraggly tree, but the tone of its voice clearly indicated panic. I noticed it wore slim knee-high boots of faded hide that almost looked a dull purple in the light._

_That damn fairy immediately flitted out of Link's hat and hovered just out of my reach. "I told him, Sheik! I told him it was a bad idea! He never listens to me!"_

_This Sheik person ignored Navi's tinny shouts and instead pointed a very steady finger at me. In return, I fitted him with my best condescending look. "Has the Sage of Water awakened?"_

_Not wanting to cut in and prematurely earn myself a dagger to the face, I waited impatiently for the kid to respond in some way to the ridiculous line of questioning. He could tell I was bristling from the comments spoken as if I were some dumb, deaf statue rather than a living, breathing person. _

_Before either of us could react, though, Navi shrieked, "HE'S SET DARK LINK FREE," and within the next short span of seconds, I lunged out of the kid's shadow and trapped her in a ball of shadows – a _soundproof_ ball of shadows. The kid shrugged in what I interpreted as approval as I tossed it idly from hand to hand and narrowed my eyes at the impassive Sheik, finally fed up with the exchange._

_"I am _not_ a demon," I snarled at the man, as I finally decided to call it, and risked sidling close enough to stand over him ominously, since I had about half a head on him. He didn't react. I leered. "In fact, _you're_ the one that reeks of magic. What's your true form, eh?"_

_I expected a reaction. Hell, I _wanted_ a reaction. Instead, Sheik's eyes flashed dangerously for a second and a tense moment later, he spoke with a definite edge in his soft, girlish voice. _

_"Do not mock me, demon," he warned rather anticlimactically. Then, to my irritation, he turned to address the kid. "I trust that you accept the consequences of your decision, then."_

_Link was not impressed in the least, and actually looked a little angry. "Sheik," he started, "I want you to meet my friend D. I found him in the water temple, and he's agreed to help me."_

_I thought maybe for a second that the man's eye twitched in disbelief. But then it was gone and in a dazzling flash from a goddesses-damned Deku nut, the strange little man had disappeared from the immediate area. Mildly annoyed, I turned to the kid with my hands on my hips and demanded, "What the hell was that about?"_

_He just shrugged. "That was Sheik. He's a Sheikah like Impa, and he always crops up at random times, usually to quote some dumb poetry at me. He'll probably find us a little later today, after he's thought up something clever to say. I just think he's really nosy and bossy, always trying to get me 'back on task.'" Snort._

_"So that's what a Sheikah looks like. You know," I grumbled, tossing the little ball that was Navi and dissolving her prison, "if that's how the people around here are gonna react, I think I will stay hidden after all."_

We of course encountered him a few more times since then, but he never ceased to disappoint me. The kid was spot on in his description: bossy, with a tendency to wax poetic at inopportune moments with shitty lines about random shit no one cared about when something was about to kill us. And that sparkly tang that hovered about him, lighter and less sinister than twilight – it gave me the creeps, especially with those eyes of his: bright ruby red, the exact colour of the Goron's Spiritual Stone and of Din's Fire, which only reinforced my misgivings about his role in our adventure. Magic was afoot, and around here, it only served to make one guarded.

"Hey Sheik," the kid replied mock-brightly. He stepped down from the pedestal and sheathed the sword with a quick, forceful motion. "What are you doing here?"

"The monster in the well is still ravaging Kakariko-"

Link shrugged cheerfully, and I watched with palpable amusement as the usually stoic Sheikah almost twitched in irritation. "We'll get around to it, but I want to go to the desert first." Sheik actually appeared livid at that remark. He took a bold step forward and would've grasped the kid by the shoulders if I hadn't shifted the slightest bit in front of him, blocking his path with a solid challenge. The kid looked blank for a second; gradually, his expression began morphing into one of anger. "I don't want to go back to Kakariko!"

"You do not have a choice!" hissed Sheik.

The kid looked stunned. I stared. Of all people, this mysterious man _knew_ that pushing the kid's buttons and attempting to coerce him into something almost never worked, especially when the main motivation involved his 'quest.' Link hated it with every ounce of his being. He hated Zelda, he hated Sheik, and to some degree, he probably hated me too for occasionally policing his behaviour. I could live with that though. But there was no way in hell he'd take this ambush lying down, and neither would I.

"You always know just what to say, Sheik," I stated dryly, levelling a hard glare at the quivering Sheikah before me. "It astounds me-"

A hand clamped down almost painfully on my shoulder, practically dragging me out of the way as he stepped forward to tower over Sheik. The shorter man looked up defiantly, fury still radiating from his slight form albeit in weaker waves. Link shoved a finger into Sheik's chest and poked, hard. "I'm tired of you telling me where to go and what to do. If it's so important for you, then go save the village yourself. I tried and failed. Fix the mess yourself!"

"I do not possess the strength to defeat the monster!" I thought for a second that Sheik had shifted onto his toes to combat Link's height advantage. Then I shook my head – the ruby-eyed antagonist _quailed_ under the intensity of Link's scrutiny in spite of his spirited words and tone. I didn't blame him. He'd shown up in the sword chamber just as he did now, demanding frantically that we follow him to Kakariko – but minutes after our arrival, he'd approached the well to explain the danger when the giant shadow creature proved his point by knocking the stuffing out of him. Tactful as always, the kid had waited to see if he was still alive before bursting into unbecoming giggles. And then we'd left, found the utter nightmare beneath the goddesses-damned well, and decided that if Sheik cared as much as he said he did, then he could deal with the zombies. I'd just never dreamt that the kid would say as much to his face. "This is a task meant for the Hero, not for-!"

"I. Decline."

Sheik blinked. "You- What?"

The kid puffed out his chest, turning his nose into the air. "I decline."

"You can't-!"

"I DECLINE."

And instead of doing anything useful, I gawked as the kid placed two firm hands against the tiny Sheikah's shoulders and knocked him clean off his feet, right onto his back with a dull _thud_ on the tile. I stepped towards the kid to say something conciliatory but nothing would come to mind... not that I wanted to attract any of his attention while in this mood anyway. His breathing quickened almost to a pant just standing there, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the shocked man at his feet, his hands automatically flexing into fists and relaxing before tightening again into white-knuckled holds. Scuffing his boot contemptuously, he spun away and back towards the pedestal, simultaneously collecting the ocarina from a pocket.

"C'mon," he said to me, "we're leaving."

"Link," I started uncertainly, but he just waved me off.

The kid almost snarled back, "Don't. I should've done that a long time ago... Then maybe I wouldn't be in this mess."

"Wait." I glanced absently at Sheik, who had arranged himself into a cross-legged position on the smooth white tiles, his head bowed, but Link didn't so much as breathe in his direction. "I will teach you the melody," he continued softly. "I will teach you the Requiem of Spirit... as well as the Nocturne of Shadow."

"D can warp me. I don't need your songs. We'll travel by foot."

"Link," I cut in, "don't be stupid. Learn the songs. They'll come in handy later."

He whipped around in a fluid, violent motion and I suddenly had to urge to scramble away – irrational, yes, but not only was he much bigger than me, the kid seemed utterly terrifying in this rage of his. It felt boundless and yet still contained within the room, filling it to bursting with wave after rolling wave of roiling emotion, seemingly ricocheting off the plain grey stone that bordered us on seven sides. It seemed strangely well-placed, too; this outburst occurred at the heart of his troubles, in the sword chamber where he regularly moved between his childhood and adulthood as if he were simply changing his tunic. Everything centred here, in this octagonal hellhole, lit only by an indistinct stained glass window set high into the wall. Here. I'd just witnessed something extremely important.

"I'm serious. Take the offer and use the songs as resources. It's not like you'll owe him anything-" Glaring murderously at him despite his downcast eyes, I wanted to kick him in the face for causing this disruption. As much as I hated to admit it, I didn't like seeing the kid in this state. "Right, Sheik?"

He didn't reply, although the kid didn't seem to care. He huffed at me for a long minute, just staring me down, before finally letting everything out in a long breath, fingers strangling the small instrument. "Okay, D. Fine. Sheik, teach me the melodies. Not that I'll use the shadow one." The last part he grumbled under his breath, and I couldn't help but grin a little at it. His attitude was undoubtedly still volatile, but I gauged it as diminishing with every passing second. Thankfully. It was bad enough having to go back to the desert, and I didn't need the kid's tantrum to complicate things even more.

Soundlessly, Sheik flowed to his feet and extracted a lyre out of thin air, then began plucking gingerly at a few chords. "For the Hero," he stated quietly, and deftly played two melodies that sounded hardly distinct to me let alone entertaining. But the kid shrugged after hearing them and repeated the notes on his ocarina flawlessly. When he finished, a small smile tugged at his mouth. I couldn't help myself.

"You've got a career ahead of you, Sheik. You'd make an excellent minstrel."

For the first time since the kid's reaction, the Sheikah summoned some emotion into his half-hidden face. I realised then that I instinctively didn't trust anyone unwilling to reveal their face; case in point, that nutter Zant. "Shadow," he began in a thundering voice.

"Sheik," I simpered back at him.

I imagined him baring his teeth, and he shook his head, directing his attention to the kid, who stood beside me with his best attempt at looking indifferent. Predictably, the kid failed miserably.

"Off to the desert then! You ready to go?" he asked me brightly. I slipped into his shadow, but not before sweeping the hat off my head and dipping into an elaborate bow. Sheik huffed softly. "Guess we'll see you around, huh?" Link pressed the ocarina to his lips and inhaled loudly for his audience's benefit while I snickered quietly from beneath his boots.

"The Gerudo Desert is unkind to the casual traveller," was all our unwanted acquaintance offered. The kid had played the first wavering notes when he must have thought better of his advice. "Hero, I presume that you understand the importance of the task you have been set, and the urgency with which such a task must be completed." He breathed in through his nose, eyes shut for a moment. "Hyrule remains in your hands. Do with it what you will, but know that others depend upon you."

I almost materialised to reprimand that little closing snark, but the kid blew the final part of the song as forcefully as he could, resulting in an awful, shrieking rendition that rather than honouring the dead, should have woken them. But I had to admit, I got some small measure of satisfaction from leaving Sheik to stare after us, rather than the other way around. And silently, I applauded the kid's daring.


	17. Chapter 17

Unfortunately, I'd kind of always suspected we'd get mixed up in something ridiculous in the desert. Between the kid's mission and my own nagging curiosities regarding a certain twilit artefact, this was inevitable; of course, maybe not the exact details, but overall, I felt like I'd always anticipated being half-drowned in sand and unbearably sunburnt, with little to show for our efforts except for a lame medallion of some sort – or so I assumed. This little part now, where we stormed the Colossus and found Nabooru, this was supposed to be the part that earned us the medallion. She had to be the Sage of Spirit, because if she wasn't, I'd eat my hat and stomp around and maybe even stab some things in the eye out of spite. Goddesses, but this had to be it. I just found it more than a little disconcerting, the emptiness of the place.

And I meant _utter_ emptiness. The place was deserted. Maybe all the Gerudo were busy playing around in Castletown or at their fortress, but wherever they were, it wasn't here. I didn't know if I should feel relieved or even more suspicious, either. I had no doubt the witches still lurked in some dark crevice somewhere, most likely in close proximity to the Mirror. That was a given. In the eerie silence of the Arbiter's Grounds, I almost welcomed the known challenge of _x_ Gerudo waiting for us in every room, hindering our passage. Goddesses-damned place felt too much like a tomb, and it was a hundred years too soon for that. And my left eye wouldn't stop twitching.

"Okay, seriously, cut that out."

The kid looked at me innocently until his mouth quirked, releasing that wicked grin of his. He'd been dragging his boots obnoxiously since the statue room, and despite descending a narrow staircase, he kept it up by practically gimping along behind me as if the knight had taken out the joints in his legs rather than that pillar. I glared at him but kept walking at a steady pace. The kid thought otherwise.

"I'll stop if you give me that shield."

One brow raised, I regarded him quietly. "Fine. Trade."

"Okay!" The kid all but snatched the shiny weapon from its place at my back, his fingers tracing greedily over the bronze that trimmed the smooth, unadorned bright metal of its face. "I'm glad you stole this."

"Yeah," I replied. "If I'd known that it would shut you up, I'd've stolen the matching sword, too."

Link refused a response, apparently too enthralled with admiring his new piece of equipment to reply. I didn't mind, and for a few wondrous minutes, we moved along in companionable silence. And then, of course, the kid interrupted it. "D," he began bravely. "When you left... where did you go?"

With a sideways glance, I scrutinised his face in the dim light emitted by the intermittent braziers lining the passage. He didn't look malicious – kid hardly ever did. He just seemed curious, but at the same time intent on something, on determining something. "It was an accident, but one of my friends… I ended up in my own village." That bold look never left his face, and I decided that I wanted to know where this conversation was headed more than I didn't want to reveal information about my escapades. He breathed out slowly, quietly, thoughtfully and all I could think was, _This can't be good_.

"You told me before that your friend, that Link... he had to fight off monsters in order to save his world from... twilight?" Pause, obviously spent collecting his thoughts and organising his words. "What was he before all of that?"

"Mmm." I smiled slightly. "He worked on a farm, herding goats and doing other things like that."

"Did he have a family?"

I shook my head. We were in the room with the gilded gate now, the metal shining dully in the torchlight. The temple seemed considerably worse for wear, almost in a state of disrepair: the once-golden braziers had lost their shine and the oil within them looked like sludge, burning with an acrid smell and giving off barely any light; the ornamental weapons and tapestries were cockeyed on the walls, tarnished and tattered; the bricks under our feet and directly above the torches bore signs of heavy foot traffic and thick soot, respectively. By no means did it look deserted, though... just neglected, like the structure and the statue of the Goddess of Sand that it housed had become dwarfed by more nefarious purposes.

The kid continued abruptly, "But he had friends. He had you. And you said he loved that girl, the one from the twilight world. He loved her and that's why he did everything."

More than anything I wanted to come out and ask him where he was going with this train of thought, because I didn't feel like discussing his feelings for that red-headed terror with the shovel. I didn't feel like discussing anyone's feelings for anyone, period. I stopped walking and turned to stare at him, not quite critically but not in any way inviting. I opened my mouth but he cut me off quickly.

"D, what did he do afterwards?" The kid cut me off a second time as he rushed to say, "Why did he do it? No one made him save anyone."

"Kid..." If he wanted me to tell him to do his job and save Hyrule by killing Ganondorf, I could. I could absolutely tell him that it was the right thing to do, based on expectations and what I knew as history and a whole host of other things. But _I_ could just as easily tell him to ignore Zelda and Sheik and everyone else and go back to his own time, because if I were in his shoes... _Would you have made that choice? Would you have forgotten Midna if you hadn't been wanted for murder?_ My argument made sense in my head – and then it all fell apart. It hurt a little, too, because I wasn't sure what Link was up to right now. Zelda hadn't been very certain either, aside from some vague indications of his being in Castletown, doing something with the resistance forces. Aside from being a hero, but one for the common man this time. _Malon's right_. I needed a steadying breath.

"Link, my friend, he doesn't do things for himself. I mean, he does – he's just like any other person, really. It's just... Well, Midna, the girl he loves, she was in trouble and that was why he helped her in the end. Before that, he was helping the children from our village. I guess… well I've always just thought of him as doing the right thing because he can. He's never really cared about what other people think of him."

He looked confused. "Why wouldn't he care?"

"I don't think that's the point, kid. Everything he does, he's doing it because something _in_ him is driving him. Do you understand what I mean?" Shaking his head, he crossed his arms. In the light of the sputtering torches, he looked spectacularly lost and despite his current form, I saw right through to the ten-year-old behind those bright eyes, desperate for direction I couldn't provide. "I mean," I told him patiently, with conviction, "that Link knows his limits and his capabilities and he understands the burden. He takes it upon himself because he knows he can do a better job than anyone else."

"He's already beaten the twilight though," he stated slowly. "He's already done all of that. The hard part's over."

I grinned at that. "Kid, the hard part doesn't begin until _after _the action. It's picking up the pieces that's challenging."

"Oh."

"But it's okay, really." I shrugged. "He's strong. He's courageous. Maybe he isn't any more qualified than some other person. But he's willing, and I think that's what counts. I'm willing to bet he's looking for Midna right now," I lied.

"...Are you calling him 'Link' because it's my name?"

Laughing, I started down the passage again, calling over my shoulder, "I think you forget that it was_ my _name first."

The kid caught up after a few paces and resorted to grumbling an arm's reach behind me. "I don't get why you're not seven years older too."

Good observation on his part. I obviously didn't have an answer for him since I'd have dearly liked to know myself. My working theory involved my lack of existence in this world which always made me uncomfortable, so I tried not thinking about it. Accordingly I changed the subject instead. "So... Why ask about Link now?"

"I dunno," he mumbled back, but his cheeks had reddened.

"Just curious," I finished for him.

"A little too curious. That's what killed your friend in the hat."

I froze mid-step and squinted into the gloom ahead, belatedly realising our arrival at the double doors before the Mirror Chamber. Ahead, standing guard over the entrance, stood Nabooru, her weight thrown jauntily to one side, her head cocked as she watched me with a cat's wary gaze. The kid thankfully didn't comment and I hoped to goddesses he might stay out of this. Whatever 'this' was. But by some other miracle, the dim lighting kept her from noticing him and awfully disproving her last statement, and so I concentrated a little more energy in thickening the shadows just over my shoulder, obscuring him as best as I could.

"I see you made it out alive," I replied coolly. "I'm a little disappointed, you know. After the warm welcome in Castletown, I expected a little more from you."

She bared her teeth in a terrible smile, almost predatory but calculating at the same time. "I believe we have a score to settle, Shadow. You've tried to kill me twice so far."

"I thought you were a little more observant than that." We both moved into battle stances, our swords glimmering in the firelight. Link stood behind me quietly, watching the exchange with intense interest. He must have understood that the Nabooru before us wasn't the same as the one we'd seen murdered in the statue room. He _had_ to see the mist I'd created. I leant back onto my heels, pretending to stretch my shoulder, and whispered to the kid, "If you want those witches to yourself, now would be a good time to make a move." Without a word, he turned on his heel and disappeared in the opposite direction of the Mirror Chamber, leaving me only to guess that he knew some alternative route. _If he gets lost_... "My eyes haven't been green for a very, very long time."

"Seven years' time?" she snapped back, once again drawing her blades against one another. "I admire your audacity, demon."

I pressed my sword against my chest melodramatically and feigned hurt – and charged. She met me halfway, her speed dazzling and infuriating and terrifying, her body twisting like a serpent away from my attacks. I was outmatched. I meant, she'd always possessed more skill, but I didn't have the advantage of the claustrophobic sword chamber which had sufficiently limited her movements for me to have a fighting chance. She also had a dazzling sort of aura that definitely reminded me a little of tainted twilight. If she was drawing her strength from the Mirror... _goddesses, but this won't end well_. She'd been good before but now she seemed damn near invincible, and something that I would've delegated to Link, the capable swordsman of my time.

Parrying her blades, I somewhat desperately thrust back on them until our hilts locked, bringing our faces close enough to feel the other's breath like sparks from a raging fire. Her eyes flashed and I took the cue by leaping backwards – the tip of her left scimitar just missing my throat as I let out a stream of curses. "Listen to me," I insisted urgently, even as she took another swipe at my head. She kept casting Din's Fire so that it twirled along the edges of her blade, making it twice as deadly and undesirable. _This is just brilliant. That kid had better be doing something productive because this is not going well at all._ "Nabooru, listen! The witches conjured that- that thing that shot you. It wasn't me. My eyes haven't been green since I turned into this-"

"LIAR!" she spat. "Filthy demon liar!"

Another swipe at my head. I couldn't keep this up. I brought up my sword just in time to deflect her blow, but she was stronger and more skilled and goddesses, but I could die here. Another wave of desperation crashed into me and I held up my hands in a last-ditch effort. "Nabooru-!"

Instantly, the magical flames licked at my skin and clothes and the twilight in my veins, and I automatically cried out in pain. She roughly grasped the back of my head, a thick fistful of hair and hat, and tilted it back until my throat was exposed, all while I panted and writhed and struggled to escape. Even with the flames gone, though, the magic still burnt – and it wasn't a nice sensation, contacting whatever contradictorily pure magic Nabooru had cast, combined with the tainted twilight clouding her and shrouding anyone in the vicinity. It made me incredibly faint, just like when I'd fallen from the spinner in the Mirror Chamber. The witches just _had_ to pick a sage. And _that_ made me even madder, because if she could cast spells with such intense concentrations of Light-Dweller magic, why the hell couldn't she break the witches' hold? I gritted my teeth and shut my eyes as she brought her scimitar up to rest dangerously close to my skin. _Last chance, Link_.

"Nabooru," I told her weakly. "You called me a red-eyed freak."

"DIN'S FIRE!"


	18. Chapter 18

_Notes: I am a horrible person. I am sorry. But the changes have been made and I really hope it improves the story. My main goal was to have everything make a little bit more sense, construction- and content-wise, so hopefully I've achieved that... i.e., if there are problems/concerns/anything, please drop a line and I will happily take a look at whatever it is and see what can be done._

_Basically: everything's been replaced on here. Some new stuff's been added, some old stuff's been shuffled around, all with good intentions._

_PS I love you._

_Also, check out_** http : / / fav [DOT] me /_ d4lpqvr_** _for a pretty wicked drawing of a scene from Precedent. (Don't forget to browse the gallery too!)_

* * *

He would win, he knew, but he couldn't give his enemies his undivided attention. Something nagged against his awareness, even as he spun around the room, alternating between deflecting blows with the super-reflective shield D had given him, and chasing the witches with his raised sword. He'd trapped Navi in a bottle before his foray into the Spirit Temple, and after releasing her just before meeting the witches and apologising profusely, she'd relented and once again joined his side, albeit somewhat limitedly due to her fear of his shadow; now, her high-pitched warnings kept his focus from straying too far and for that he was grateful. Judging by the witches' shock at seeing the shield in his hands, he possessed an unexpected advantage, and despite using its power as aggressively as possible, he couldn't keep himself from glancing nervously at his empty shadow and the great double doors that led into the Mirror Chamber.

_D's been here before. He's talking to Nabooru just outside and he'll be in in a minute. You don't need him to fight the witches_, he told himself angrily. _You're the one who found the passage behind the tapestry. You're the one who made it here first. He told you to go. You've fought tougher monsters before by yourself_._ Why are you even worried?_

The witches cackled, irresistibly drawing his attention. Link tumbled out of the way of an icy blast from Koume, flipping back onto his feet in time to deflect Kotake's fiery magic. Twice so far he'd successfully forced the sisters' magic to cross and subsequently explode on contact, wounding the casters. Twice he'd missed his chance to inflict real damage on his opponents because he'd been too slow to scramble back to his feet and pursue the fallen witches. Now, he knew he had them. Or at least, he would if he could just concentrate. But no matter what, he just couldn't get that stupid shadow out of his mind. The abandonment was still so fresh in his mind, and the thought of D disappearing again actually inspired a little jolt of cold, white fear. Link did not want his strange, shadowy friend to leave. He knew it, just as certainly as he would never admit it. And presently, with a breath of relief, he heard the doors rattle against the walls as they swung inward, and then click back into place as they shut after the new arrival. Avoiding another blast, he finally turned excitedly-

Nabooru strode down the threadbare red carpet, dragging a dark, limp form behind her. As she drew closer, he realised with sudden blank terror that it was D, pulled along by his collar, and he wasn't moving. As far as Link could tell, he wasn't breathing, either. _He can't be dead. He isn't dead_. But he also knew that the only way for Nabooru to be treating him so poorly right now- _Farore, _no._ He can't be dead. _Please-

_"...Do you want some healing potion?"_

_"Hell yes," D snapped at him. And if Link didn't know better, he would've flinched backwards – the shadow looked about ready to pounce and strangle him with his bare hands. The bottom of the well had been rough on both of them, but D especially and the guilt washed over him steadily. "Why are you holding out on me?" _

_Mumbling to himself, Link pulled out his last bottle and shook it carefully to mix the contents, noting that its weight seemed slightly off. "Here, D." He attempted to penetrate the heavily fogged glass with the intensity of his gaze-_

_He hadn't so much as raised his arm to examine the bottle when his friend snatched it out of his hand and popped off the lid before Link could get a word in edgewise. He could only watch in horror as D tossed it back – and choked on something warm, fuzzy, and _fluttering_. Spluttering, he spat onto the grass only to come face to face with Link's fairy. He dragged a hand across his mouth in disgust, flicking his tongue to get the taste of fairy out. "Bloody hell, kid! What the-"_

_"I _tried_ to warn you." Annoyance passed over his face and he scrunched up his eyes, mouth twisted to the side. He held out a palm to the shivering fairy and when she climbed aboard, cupped his fingers around her and blew gently. "That's my last bottle, so I stuffed her in there to hide her from the thing with all the hands."_

_D stared. "_Why_? She could've helped us, you twit!"_

_The kid shrugged. "I dunno. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I didn't want it to try and eat her too."_

_"Oh, so you thought I'd be more nutritious for that undead _thing_, is that it?"_

_"I'm right here, you know!" shrieked the furious fairy, but no one paid her any attention as usual. She continued to hiss obscenities from between Link's fingers, since her wings had yet to dry. It might've been funny except for that part where he'd actually missed her light. He didn't like the dark, and even with D doing his best to infuse it with a little friendliness, his irrational fear had only intensified during their final moments in the well – specifically, when the several-handed creature had suddenly grabbed D from behind after he'd knocked Link out of the way of writhing fingers. But, if that was what it took to keep the fairy safe, then it was okay. Besides, he had both of them again now, and they were safe in the Lost Woods because he'd saved Saria. They were safe, for now._

_"Whatever-" Disgusted, he swallowed the rest of the potion. "Let's get out of this place. You know it gives me the creeps."_

_Link grinned lopsidedly, now on his feet with his hands at his hips and the ocarina clutched at his waist. "I'm the one with the magic right now, not you. I think I can do whatever I want." But he set the mouthpiece to his lips anyway, knowing that D deserved a different sanctuary after his small act of heroism in that well. Besides, his friend never failed to complain about how creepy the Sacred Forest Meadow was with its ethereal chorus of fairies that supposedly mocked him from the shadows, so using the place as anything more than a brief refuge after a desperate escape was kind of out of the question if he wanted to keep D from ranting for any length of time. "And I think I want to go to-" D laughed at him and he froze suspiciously. "What?"_

_"We just spent the last few days wandering around in the bottom of a well filled with zombies, and you're acting like our plans for a holiday were rained out." Link stared at him confusedly, wary. The shadow had this smile on his face that still spoke of the apparent pain he was in, but was nevertheless bright and mischievous as ever. Drawing in a deep breath full of amusement, he breathed out: "You're acting like a kid instead of a pint-sized serial-killer."_

_The kid snuffled at that. "Whatever," he grumbled. "Let's go."_

_But D snatched the hat off his head and ruffled Link's short hair. "I'm proud of you." Except, he couldn't have meant to say that, since they both froze at the words and the unspoken sentiment suddenly trapped in the air around them. D wasn't this affectionate, ever. He'd mock and tease the stuffing out of someone before telling them anything so straightforward. And it surprised them at his accidental admission, but Link knew there had to be some underlying cause for it. Regardless, it made him a little fuzzy inside. And he would've grinned irritatingly if it wouldn't have ruined the moment and made things awkward. "You know," the shadow recovered, "I'm proud of you for not actually getting me killed. You cut it a little close this time, though."_

_Mumbling to himself, Link shook his head and set the ocarina to his lips again, but this time it was more to hide the smile than to avoid D's ornery nature._

His voice rang deafeningly in his mind: "_You know, I'm proud of you for not actually getting me killed._"

She stopped just short of where Link stood rooted to the carpet, but she didn't speak; with a terribly graceful motion, she released her burden and the head and shoulders hit the floor with a dull _thump_ and remained still. His eyes were closed, and the skin looked even paler than usual, the only colour provided by patches of shiny blisters that coincided with charred holes in his clothing. Link felt the bottom of his stomach dissolve. She had killed him. She had killed D. And goddesses, but he _hurt_. It wasn't until he unthinkingly turned and raised his sword in her direction, an open challenge, that he noticed her angry golden eyes were fixed on the witches hovering just before the Mirror, each grinning toothily.

"Look what the cat's dragged in-"

"You have deceived me," Nabooru cut in icily. The Gerudo stood tall, her red hair catching the light filtering in through a line of wide windows set high into the wall behind the Mirror. "You have used me. You have disgraced our people." Her gaze swung unexpectedly to meet his and he felt his mouth fall open a little, then shut decisively as he nodded back to her. "Link. I am truly sorry."

The words sent him plummeting into despair. Across the room, Koume and Kotake seemed suddenly frenzied with anger.

"So our pet's finally broken the spell, eh?" snapped Koume.

"I think it's time to put her down, Koume," retorted Kotake.

Nabooru didn't even flinch, but Link couldn't help it. A blinding white flash later, and a pile of golden ashes sparkled where the Gerudo had been moments before. The fury she'd brought into the room hadn't dissipated, however, and as he stood there staring at the remains of his friends, he could feel it flooding his veins, infecting him as if he were breathing in her spirit. Behind him, the witches bickered... until he whirled around with a floor-shaking scream that startled them out of their argument.

_HIT ME_, he cried in his head, or he thought he did. _TRY AND HIT ME_. And they tried- Together, the witches cast their spells, too surprised by his charge to think of avoiding the other's path, and a second or two after they released their incantations, the opposing magic connected and exploded in a spectacular flash.

"Link, now's your chance!" called Navi desperately from somewhere to his left.

He nodded absently, surged through the glimmering aftershock that still hung frozen in the air, and with all of his strength behind it, drove the Master Sword straight into the heart of the still-conscious sister before turning the blade and destroying the other. And then – only after watching the witches' bodies crumble into grey ash – then, did he finally feel the tears stinging the corners of his eyes and burning his throat. Slowly, Link turned to face the length of the room and the reality of death at the other end.

L

Of all the things in recent memory, this was by far the most nerve-wracking and potentially the most dangerous – and that was before considering the possibility of a skirmish. He'd very purposefully chosen another seedy inn in the opposite part of town, and he'd very purposefully avoided the occasional summons that reached him, allegedly from the aging barmaid herself. This time, though, there was nothing for it.

Well, he could always hope for the best.

Hope, being the key word.

…As if Telma didn't see _everything_ that happened in her bar.

Link snorted. This was going to be interesting.

The street was quiet as they approached the bar's front, a wide brick face set with two oaken doors, one for the tavern and the other for the marginally more respectable inn. From the light spilling out of the wide windows, a writhing mass of silhouettes was cast onto the cobbles. By the way the figures moved, however, Link knew that whatever trouble was headed for the place, it was still on its way. A minor relief, in the scheme of things. Maybe if they presented a formidable enough force, the 'hit' might spare the bar… for now. If the turmoil wracking Castletown and its crumbling structure didn't abate soon, Link had more than a serious problem on his hands because he couldn't spend goddesses knew how long defending this one little shop when there was an entire city full of little shops – and houses and people. Making his presence known here, even just to diffuse a threat, would only further the game, especially if Hart himself was on his way. And that… well, that just meant they were in it for the long haul now. Maybe he always had been. With a fleeting glance at the plain wooden sign overhanging the tavern door, he pushed his way inside and into the cacophony of a busy bar, the men from Rube's following close behind him.

Just as he expected, his gaze found her at the taps, surrounded by a raucous crowd clamouring for more ale. He darted over to an empty corner table before she had a chance to look up from her work, much to his relief; keeping the peace relied on his maintaining a low profile. It'd be a chore, but he'd have to take a leaf out of Midna's book and keep to the shadows. Accordingly, he settled in, wordlessly accepting a glass of something passed to him by Rube, and watched.

The floor was alive: a stout boy threaded skilfully through the mass of customers with a tray held over his head; around the bar, Telma shouted at men to keep their grubby hands out of the way of her tankards as she flicked them along the counter; to her right and closest to the entrance was a door labelled "PRIVATE," and to her left, another door that led to the inn portion of the establishment banged open and shut every other second. And it was funny, in a way, the movement. The city and its people went on living – indefatigable. He remembered what it was like walking through the marketplace before disaster in the desert, and while it still felt a little alien to him, he saw the same basic elements, the same life coursing through the cobbled streets. A prime example of it was packed into the building now, with a handful of men at the bar that rallied behind _him_, and he rallied behind Zelda. Somewhat.

_Now probably isn't the time to think about this though_, he reminded himself forcefully, but it had little effect. Of course it had little effect. When you found yourself the unofficial leader of a revolutionary force, it was more than a little disorienting. It was a little past disorienting, particularly when you also found yourself undermining your own authority. Despite the gauntlet covering the back of his hand, he knew the mark had disappeared. Not entirely, not yet – but it was fading, and it confused him because Ganondorf had lost Power just before dying on the other end of the Master Sword. Link wanted to believe that this was a job for Zelda, that Zelda should be organising the people, that Zelda should be doing everything he was doing now, unwillingly, unwittingly, acquiescently, _silently_. The doubt killed him. Maybe losing the Triforce was punishment for interfering in some greater plans, in something set aside for someone else. Maybe… maybe he was meant to fade away too. No one had ever mentioned an 'after' to him; sure, he'd promised Dark Link that they'd take a fishing trip and otherwise assume some sense of normalcy, but that wasn't an 'after.' It wasn't an ending. No one had ever told him what would happen after everything had been said and done.

No one had said anything except, "Wait," and then she'd disappeared.

Goddesses, but he wanted to rage when he wasn't so exhausted. He wanted to-

Link's ears twitched. Half a second of startled silence fell across the tables nearest the door. Chairs scuffed against the floor, feet shuffled, and abruptly the rest of the bar slowed to hazy, drunken movements and blurred words. Rube was on his feet, moving towards the newcomers, when a mellow voice stated calmly, "I know he's here."

Someone had started a grumbling reply but Link had already risen tiredly to his feet, entirely too conscious of the eyes trained on him, and greeted the man with a nod. He looked surprisingly grizzled in spite of his voice, and stood a little taller than Link in a plain uniform of the guard, with close-cropped dark hair and bright black eyes that shone like the wings of one of Agitha's beetles. As Link engaged with a blank stare, Hart's eyebrows shot into the plain of his wide, creased forehead.

"So this is the fearless leader," he smiled blandly. "Is it true you're a mute?"

Link glared, but refused to acknowledge the jibe. Someone choked in the background. Hart's smiled widened to a toothy grin.

"I just want to make sure that we're on the same plane of understanding, mute," the councilmen's bulldog began again, easily, casually, as if they were discussing the finer points of goat farming over a beer. "I do not play well with others." If the smile grew anymore, Link was sure the man's head would split in half like a puppet's. "And I _never_ forget a face."

Just as easily, he placed a severed head – undoubtedly the unfortunate boy mentioned by Kent's friend – on a nearby table. And then he turned on his heel and left the bar trapped in stunned silence until Telma shrieked, "BAR'S CLOSED. GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE."


End file.
